wi 


fi' 


Au A. 

' 3 Of' 


' 




fi 


-C 


\Y I ,oi 
































\ 



TAYLOR’S HOLY DYING, 

















































'gsjA'S'o 0 

,T3 


Copyright, 

E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY. 
1876. 


RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE : 


PRINTED BY H. 0. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY 











EDITORIAL NOTE. 

I N the present edition of Taylor’s Holy Dying, 
the text has been carefully revised and cor¬ 
rected, in the same manner as in the edition of 
the Holy Living which accompanies it. The nu¬ 
merous quotations from ancient authors have also 
been verified, and the necessary references sup¬ 
plied. 

E. A. 





To ixev TekevTYjcrat navrorv r) nenpiofievY) tcareKpive, 
to Se Kakcof aTiodavs.lv ISiov toZ; o-ttouScuois n <[>vcns 
anevup.ev. Isoc. ad Demonic, c 44. 


The Library 

Congress 

Washington 



TO THE 



RIGHT HONORABLE AND NOBLEST LORD, 

RICHARD, EARL OF CARBERY, 

ETC. 

My Lord, 

I AM treating your Lordship as a Roman gen¬ 
tleman did St.- Augustine and his mother; I 
shall entertain you in a charnel-house, and carry 
your meditations awhile into the chambers of death, 
where you shall find the rooms dressed up with 
melancholic arts, and fit to converse with your most 
retired thoughts, which begin with a sigh, and pro¬ 
ceed in deep consideration, and end in a holy reso¬ 
lution. The sight that St. Augustine most noted 
in that house of sorrow was the body of Caesar, 
clothed with all the dishonors of corruption that 
you can suppose in a six months’ burial. But I 
know that, without pointing, your first thoughts 
will remember the change of a greater beauty, who 
is now dressing for the brightest immortality, and 
from her bed of darkness calls to you to dress your 
soul for that change which shall mingle your bones 
with that beloved dust, and carry your soul to the 
same choir, where you may both sit and sing forever. 


EPIS TL E DEDICA T OR Y. 


vm 

My Lord, it is your dear Lady’s anniversary! and 
she deserved the biggest honor, and the longest 
memory, and the fairest monument, and the most 
solemn mourning; and in order to it, give me 
leave, my Lord, to cover her hearse with these 
following sheets. This hook was intended first to 
minister to her piety, and she desired all good peo¬ 
ple should partake of the advantages which are 
here recorded; she knew how to live rarely well, 
and she desired to know how to die; and God 
taught her by an experiment. But since her work 
is done, and God supplied her with provisions of 
his own before I could minister'to her, and perfect 
what she desired, it is necessary to present to your 
Lordship those bundles of cypress which were in¬ 
tended to dress her closet, but come now to dress 
her hearse. My Lord, both your Lordship and 
myself have lately seen and felt such sorrows of 
death, and such sad departure of dearest friends, 
that it is more than high time we should think our¬ 
selves nearly concerned in the accidents. Death 
hath come so near to you, as to fetch a portion 
. from your very heart; and now you cannot choose 
but dig your own grave, and place your coffin in 
your eye, when the angel hath dressed your scene 
of sorrow and meditation with so particular and so 
near an object: and therefore, as it is my duty, I 
am come to minister to your pious thoughts, and to 
direct your sorrows, that they may turn into virtues 
and advantages. 


EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 


IX 


And since I know your Lordship to he so con¬ 
stant and regular in your devotions, and so tender 
in the matter of justice, so ready in the expres¬ 
sions of charity, and so apprehensive of religion, 
and that you are a person whose work of grace is 
apt, and must every day grow toward those degrees, 
where when you arrive you shall triumph over im¬ 
perfection, and choose nothing but what may please 
God; I could not by any compendium conduct and 
assist your pious purposes so well, as by that which 
is the great argument and the great instrument of 
holy living, the consideration and exercises of 
death. 

My Lord, it is a great art to die well, and to be 
learned by men in health, by them that can dis¬ 
course and consider, by those whose understanding 
and acts of reason are not abated with fear or 
pains: and as the greatest part of death is passed 
by the preceding years of our life, so also in those 
years are the greatest preparations to it; and he 
that prepares not for death before his last sickness 
is like him that begins to study philosophy when 
he is going to dispute publicly in the faculty. All 
that a sick and dying man can do is but to exercise 
those virtues which he before acquired, and to per¬ 
fect that repentance which was begun more early. 
And of this, my Lord, my book, I think, is a good 
testimony ; not only because it represents the van¬ 
ity of a late and sick-bed repentance, but because 
it contains in it so many precepts and meditations, 

a * 


X 


EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 


so many propositions and various duties, such forms 
of exercise, and the degrees and difficulties of so 
many graces which are necessary preparatives to a 
holy death, that the very learning the duties re¬ 
quires study and skill, time and understanding in 
the ways of godliness: and it were very vain to 
say so much is necessary, and not to suppose more 
time to learn them, more skill to practise them, 
more opportunities to desire them, more abilities 
both of body and mind, than can be supposed in a 
sick, amazed, timorous, and weak person, whose 
natural acts are disabled, whose senses are weak, 
whose discerning faculties are lessened, whose 
principles are made intricate and entangled, upon 
whose eyes sits a cloud, and the heart is broken 
with sickness, and the liver pierced through with 
sorrows and the strokes of death. And therefore, 
my Lord, it is intended by the necessity of affairs, 
that the precepts of dying well be part of the stud¬ 
ies of them that live in health, and the days of 
discourse and understanding: which in this case 
hath another degree of necessity superadded; be¬ 
cause in other notices an imperfect study may be 
supplied by a frequent exercise and a renewed 
experience; here, if we practise imperfectly once, 
we shall never recover the error, for we die but 
once; and therefore it will be necessary that our 
skill be more exact, since it is not to be mended by 
trial, but the actions must be forever left imperfect, 
unless the habit be contracted with study and con¬ 
templation beforehand. 


EP1S TLE DEDICA TOR Y. 


xi 


And indeed I were vain, if I should intend this 
book to be read and studied by dying persons; and 
they were vainer that should need to be instructed 
in those graces which they are then to exercise and 
to finish. For a sick-bed is only a school of severe 
exercise, in which the spirit of a man is tried, and 
his graces are rehearsed: and the assistances which 
I have in the following pages given to those vir¬ 
tues which are proper to the state of sickness, are 
such as suppose a man in the state of grace; or 
they confirm a good man, or they support the weak, 
or add degrees, or minister comfort, or prevent an 
evil, or cure the little mischiefs which are incident 
to tempted persons in their weakness. That is the 
sum of the present design, as it relates to dying 
persons. And therefore I have not inserted any 
advices proper to old age, but such as are common 
to it and the state of sickness. For I suppose 
very old aye to be a longer sickness ; it is labor and 
sorrow when it goes beyond the common period of 
nature : but if it be on this side that period, and be 
healthful, in the same degree it is so I reckon it in 
the accounts of life; and therefore it can have no 
distinct consideration. But I do not think it is a 
station of advantage to begin the change of an evil 
life in; it is a middle state between life and death¬ 
bed; and therefore although it hath more of hopes 
than this, and less than that , yet as it partakes of 
either state, so it is to be regulated by the advices 
of that state, and judged by its sentences. 


Xll 


EPJS TLE DEDICA TOR Y. 


Only this: I desire that all old persons would 
sadly consider, that their advantages in that state 
are very few, but their inconveniences are not few ; 
their bodies are without strength, their prejudices 
long and mighty; their vices, if they have lived 
wickedly, are habitual; the occasions of the vir¬ 
tues not many; the possibilities of some, in the 
matter of which they stand very guilty, are past, 
and shall never return again, — such are chastity 
and many parts of self-denial; that they have some 
temptations proper to their age, as peevishness and 
pride, covetousness and talking, wilfulness and un- 
* Vei quia mi rectum nisi willingness to learn; * and they 
vSl^^uLtpTeJe think they are protected by age 

in?JeTbes b Sicl?eTenesper- from learning anew, or repent- 

dcnda fateri. mg the old, and do not t leave, 

t Tcneiiis adhuc infantile but change then a ices. and after 
’ a11 this* either the day of their 

Mamert.De*>*. Aim. i.1. repentance is past) as we see it 

true in very many ; or it is expiring and toward 
the sunset, as it is in all: and therefore, although 
in these to recover is very possible, yet we may 
also remember that in the matter of virtue and 
repentance possibility is a great way off from per¬ 
formance ; and how few do repent, of whom it is 
only possible that they may; and that many things 
more are required to reduce their possibility to 
act; a great grace, an assiduous ministry, an effec¬ 
tive calling, mighty assistances, excellent counsel, 
great industry, a watchful diligence, a well-dis- 


EPISTLE DEDICATORY . x [[{ 

posed mind, passionate desires, deep apprehensions 
of danger, quick perceptions of duty, and time, 
and God’s good blessing, and effectual impression 
and seconding all this, that to will and to do may 
by him be wrought to great purposes, and with 
great speed. 

And therefore it will not" be amiss, but it is 
hugely necessary, that these persons who have lost 
their time and their blessed opportunities should 
have the diligence of youth and the zeal of new 
converts, and take account of every hour that is 
left them, and pray perpetually, and be advised 
prudently, and study the interest of their souls 
carefully with diligence and with fear; and their 
old age, which in effect is nothing but a continual 
death-bed, dressed with some more order and ad¬ 
vantages, may be a state of hope, and labor, and 
acceptance, through the infinite mercies of God in 
Jesus Christ. 

But concerning sinners really under the arrest 
of death, God hath made no death-bed covenant, 
the Scripture hath recorded no promises, given no 
instructions; and therefore I had none to give, but 
only the same which are to be given to all men that 
are alive, because they are so, and because it is un¬ 
certain when they shall be otherwise. But then 
this advice I also am to insert, — that they are the 
smallest number of Christian men, who can be di¬ 
vided by the characters of a certain holiness , or an 
open villany: and between these there are many 




XIV 


EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 


degrees oi latitude, and most are of a middle sort, 
/ concerning which we are tied *to make the judg- 
( meats of charity, and possibly God may do too. 
v But however, all they are such to whom the Hides 
of Holy Dying are useful and applicable, and there¬ 
fore no separation is to be made in this world. But 
where the case is hot evident, men are to be per¬ 
mitted to the unerring judgment of God; where 
it is evident , we can rejoice or mourn for them that 
die. 

In the Church of Rome they reckon otherwise 
concerning sick and dying Christians than I have 
done. For they make profession, that from death 
to life, from sin to grace, a man may very certainly 
be changed, though the operation begin not before 
his last hour; and half this they do upon his death¬ 
bed, and the other half when he is in his grave; 
and they take away the eternal punishment in an 
instant, by a school-distinction, or the hand of the 
priest; and the temporal punishment shall stick 
longer even then when the man is no more meas¬ 
ured with time , having nothing to do with anything 
of or under the sun ; but that they pretend to take 
away too when the man is dead; and, God knows, 
the poor man for all this pays them both in hell. 
The distinction of temporal and eterncd is a just 
measure of pain, when it refers to this life and an¬ 
other ; but to dream of a punishment temporal 
when all his time is done , and to think of repent¬ 
ance when the time of grace is past, are great 


EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 


XV 


errors, the one in philosophy and both in divinity, 
and are a huge folly in their pretence, and infinite 
danger if they are believed; being a certain de¬ 
struction of the necessity of holy living when men 
dare trust them, and live at the rate of such doc¬ 
trines. The secret of these is soon discovered ; for 
by such means, though a holy life be not necessary, 
yet a priest is; as if God did not appoint the priest 
to minister to holy living, but to excuse it, so mak¬ 
ing the holy calling not only to live upon the sins 
of the people, but upon their ruin, and the advan¬ 
tages of their function to spring from their eternal 
dangers. It is an evil craft to serve a temporal 
end upon the death of souls; that is an interest not 
to be handled but with nobleness and ingenuity, 
fear and caution, diligence and prudence, with great 
skill and great honesty, with reverence and trem¬ 
bling and severity ; a soul is worth all that, and the 
need we have requires all that: and therefore those 
doctrines that go less than all this are not friendly, 
because they are not safe. 

I know no other difference in the visitation and 
treating of sick persons, than what depends upon 
the article of late repentance; for all churches 
agree in the same essential propositions, and assist 
the sick by the same internal ministries. As for 
external, I mean unction , used in the church of 
Rome, since it is used when the man is above half 
dead, when he can exercise no act of understand¬ 
ing, it must needs be nothing; for no rational man 


XVI 


EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 


can think that any ceremony can make a spiritual 
change, without a spiritual act of him that is to be 
changed; nor work by way of nature, or by charm, 
but morally, and after the manner of reasonable 
creatures; and therefore I do not think that minis¬ 
try at all fit to be reckoned among the advantages 
of sick persons. The fathers of the Council of 
Trent first disputed, and after this manner at last 
agreed, that extreme unction was instituted by 
Christ. But afterwards, being admonished by one 
of their theologues, that the Apostles ministered 
unction to infirm people before they were priests 
(the priestly order, according to their doctrine, be¬ 
ing collated in the institution of the last supper), 
for fear that it should be thought that this unction 
might be administered by him that was no priest, 
they blotted out the word instituted , and put in its 
stead, insinuated this sacrament, and that it was 
published by St. James. So it is in their doctrine: 
and yet in their anathematisms they curse all them 
that shall deny it to have been instituted by Christ. 
I shall lay no more prejudice against it, or the 
weak arts of them that maintain it, but add this 
only, that there being but two places of Scripture 
pretended for this ceremony, some chief men of 
their own side have proclaimed these two invalid 
as to the institution of it: for Suarez says, that the 
unction used by the Apostles in St. Mark vi. 13, is 
not the same with what is used in the church of 
Rome; and that it cannot be plainly gathered from 


EPJS TL E DEDICA T OR Y. 


XV11 


the Epistle of St. James, Cajetan affirms, and that 
it did belong to the miraculous gift of healing, not 
to a sacrament. The sick man’s exercise of o-race 
formerly acquired, his perfecting repentance begun 
in the days of health, the prayers and counsels of 
the holy man that ministers, the giving the holy 
sacrament, the ministry and assistance of angels, 
and the mercies of God, the peace of conscience, 
and the peace of the church, are all the assistances 
and preparatives that can help to dress his lamp. 
But if a man shall go to buy oil when the bride¬ 
groom comes, if his lamp be not first furnished and 
then trimmed, that in this life, this upon his death¬ 
bed, his station shall be without doors, his portion 
with unbelievers, and the unction of the dying man 
shall no more strengthen his soul than it cures his 
body, and the prayers for him after his death shall 
be of the same force as if they should pray that he 
should return to life again the next day, and live as 
long as Lazarus in his return. But I consider, 
that it is not well that men should pretend any¬ 
thing will do a man good when he dies; and yet 
the same ministries and ten times more assistances 
are found for forty or fifty years together to be in¬ 
effectual. Can extreme unction at last cure what 
the holy sacrament of the eucharist all his lifetime 
could not do ? Can prayers for a dead man do him 
more good than when he was alive? If all his 
days the man belonged to death and the dominion 
of sin, and from thence could not be recovered by 


XV111 


EPIS TLE BED ICA TOR Y. 


sermons, and counsels, and perpetual precepts, and 
frequent sacraments, by confessions and absolu¬ 
tions, by prayers and advocations, by external min¬ 
istries and internal acts, it is but too certain that 
his lamp cannot then be furnished; his extreme 
unction is only then of use when it is made by the 
oil that burned in his lamp in all the days of his 
expectation and waiting for the coming of the 
bridegroom. 

Neither can any supply be made in this case by 
their practice of praying for the dead; though they 
pretend for this the fairest precedents of the church 
and of the whole world. The heathens, they say, 
did it, and the Jews did it, and the Christians did 
it: some were baptized for the dead in the days 

Tertui De Monog. c. i0; of the Apostles, and very many 

were communicated for the dead 
A«g for so many ages after. It is 
c.ini-;cone.carth.iii.c. 29 . true they were so, and did so; 

cm et sine pondere terrain, the heathens * prayed for ail 
Spirantesque crocos, et in 7 ,7 

urna perpetuum ver. easy grave , and a perpetual 
juv. Sat. vn. so,. S p r { n g^ that saffi'on would rise 

from their beds of grass. The Jews prayed that 
the souls of their dead might be in the garden of 
Eden, that they might have their part in Paradise, 
and in the world to come ; and that they might 
hear the peace of the fathers of their generation, 
sleeping in Hebron. And the Christians prayed 
for a joyful resurrection , for mercy at the day of 
judgment , for hastening of the coming of Christ , 


EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 


XIX 


and the kingdom of God; and they named all sorts 
of persons in their prayers, all I mean but wicked 
persons, all but them that lived evil lives; they 
named Apostles, saints, and martyrs. And all this 
is so nothing to their purpose, or so much against 
it, that the prayers for the dead used in the church 
of Rome are most plainly condemned, because they 
are against the doctrines and practices of all the 
world, in other forms, to other purposes, relying 
upon distinct doctrine, until new opinions began to 
rise about St. Augustine’s time, and change the 
face of the proposition. Concerning prayer for the 
dead , the church hath received no commandment 
from the Lord; and therefore concerning it we can 
have no rules nor proportions but from those im¬ 
perfect revelations of the state of departed souls, 
and the measures of charity, which can relate only 
to the imperfection of their present condition, and 
the terrors of the day of judgment: but to think 
that any suppletory to an evil life can be taken 
from such devotions after the sinners are dead, 
may encourage a bad man to sin, but cannot re¬ 
lieve him when he hath. 

Rut of all things in the world, methinks men 
should be most careful not to abuse dying people; 
not only because their condition is pitiable, but be¬ 
cause they shall soon be discovered, and in the 
secret regions of souls there shall be an evil report 
concerning those men who have deceived them: 
and if we believe we shall go to that place where 


XX 


EP'IS TLE DEDICA TOR Y. 


sucli reports are made, we may fear the shame and 
the amazement of being accounted impostors in the 
presence of angels, and all the wise holy men of 
the world. To be erring and innocent is hugely 
pitiable, and incident to mortality ; that we cannot 
help: but to deceive or to destroy so great an in¬ 
terest as is that of a soul, or to lessen its advanta¬ 
ges by giving it trifling and false confidences, is 
injurious and intolerable. And therefore it were 
very well if all the churches of the world would 
be extremely curious concerning their otfices and 
ministries of the visitation of the sick: that their 
ministers they send be holy and prudent; that 
their instructions be severe and safe; that their 
sentences be merciful and reasonable; that their 
offices be sufficient and devout; that their atten¬ 
dances be frequent and long; that their deputations 
be special and peculiar; that the doctrines upon 
which they ground their otfices be true, material, 
and holy; that their ceremonies be few, and their 
advices wary; that their separation be full of cau¬ 
tion, their judgments not remiss, their remissions 
not loose and dissolute; and that all the whole 
ministration be made by persons of experience and 
charity. For it is a sad thing to see our dead go 
out of our hands: they live incuriously and die 
without regard; and the last scene of their life, 
which should be dressed with all spiritual advanta¬ 
ges, is abused by flattery and easy propositions, 
and let go with carelessness and folly. 


EPIS TLE DEI)ICA TOR Y. 


xxi 


My Lord, I have endeavored to cure some part 
of the evil as well as I could, being willing to 
relieve the needs of indigent people in such ways 
as I can ; and therefore have described the duties 
which every sick man may do alone, and such in 
which he can be assisted by the minister: and am 
the more confident that these my endeavors will be 
the better entertained, because they are the first 
entire body of directions for sick and dying people 
that I remember ta have been published in the 
Church of England. In the Church of Rome there 
have been many; but they are dressed with such 
doctrines which are sometimes useless, sometimes 
hurtful, and their whole design of assistance, which 
they commonly yield, is at the best imperfect, and 
the representment is too careless and loose for so 
severe an employment. So that in this affair I 
was almost forced to walk alone; only that I drew 
the rules and advices from the fountains of Scrip¬ 
ture, and the purest channels of the primitive 
Church, and was helped by some experience in the 
cure of souls. I shall measure the success of my 
labors, not by popular noises or the sentences of 
curious persons, but by the advantage which good 
people may receive. My work here is not to 
please the speculative part of men, but to minister 
to practice, to preach to the weary, to comfort the 
sick, to assist the penitent, to reprove the confident, 
to strengthen weak hands and feeble knees, having 
scarce any other possibilities left me of doing alms, 


XXII 


EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 


or exercising that charity by which we shnll be 
judged at doomsday. It is enough for me to be an 
under-builder in the house of God, and I glory in 
the employment. I labor in the foundations; and 
therefore the work needs no apology for being plain, 
so it be strong and well laid. But, my Lord, as 
mean as it is, I must give God thanks for the de¬ 
sires and the strength: and, next to him, to you, 
for that opportunity and little portion of leisure 
which I had to do it in: for I must acknowledge it 
publicly (and besides my prayers, it is all the rec¬ 
ompense I can make you), my being quiet I owe 
to your interest, much of my support to your 
bounty, and many other collateral comforts I de¬ 
rive from your favor and nobleness. My Lord, 
because I much honor you, and because I would do 
honor to myself, I have written your name in the 
entrance of my book: I am sure you will entertain 
it, because the design related to your dear Lady, 
and because it may minister to your spirit in the 
day of visitation, when God shall call for you to 
receive your reward for your charity and your 
noble piety, by which you have not only endeared 
very many persons, but in great degrees have 
obliged me to be, 

My noblest Lord, 

Your Lordship’s most thankful 

and most humble Servant, 

JER. TAYLOR. 



CONTEN TS. 


—e— 

CHAPTER I. 

Page 

A General Preparation towards a Holy and 
Blessed Death, by Way of Consideration . . 1 

Sect. I. Consideration of the Vanity and Shortness of 

Man’s Life.1 

Sect. II. The Consideration reduced to Practice . . 11 

Sect. III. Rules and Spiritual Arts of lengthening our 

Days, and to take off the Objection of a short Life'. 23 

Sect. IV. Consideration of the Miseries of Man’s Life 38 

Sect. V. This Consideration reduced to Practice . . 47 


CHAPTER II. 

A General Preparation towards a Holy and 
Blessed Death, by Way of Exercise . : .52 

Sect. I. Three Precepts preparatory to a Holy Death, to 

be pi’actised in our whole Life.52 

Sect. II. Of daily Examination of our Actions in the 
whole Course of our Health, preparatory to our 
death-bed. GO 



XXIV 


CONTENTS. 


Reasons for a daily Examination .... GO 

The Benefits of this Exercise.64 

Sect. III. Of exercising Charity during our whole Life 73 

Sect. IV. General Considerations to enforce the former 

Practices.77 

The Circumstances of a Dying Man’s Sorrow and 
Danger.79 


CHAPTER III. 

Of the Temptations incident to the State of 

Sickness, with their proper Remedies . . 84 

Sect. I. Of the State of Sickness .... 84 

Sect. II. Of the first Temptation proper to the State of 

Sickness, — Impatience.89 

Sect. III. Constituent or integral parts of Patience . 92 

Sect. IV. Remedies against Impatience, by way of 

Consideration.95 

Sect. V. Remedies against Impatience, by way of Ex¬ 
ercise .107 

Sect. VI. Advantages of Sickness . . . . 114 

Three appendant Considerations .... 114 

Sect. VII. The second Temptation proper to the State 

of Sickness, — Fear of Death, with its Remedies 137 

Remedies against the Fear of Death, by way of 
Consideration.139 

Sect. VIII. Remedies against Fear of Death, by way of 

Exercise. 147 

Sect. IX. General Rules and Exercises whereby our 

Sickness may become safe and sanctified . . 157 



CONTENTS. 


XXV 


CHAPTER IV. 

Of the Practice of the Graces troper to the 
State of Sickness, which a Sick Man may prac¬ 
tise ALONE . .171 

Sect. I. Of the Practice of Patience . . . . 171 

The Practice and Acts of Patience, by way of Rule 172 

Sect. H. Acts of Patience, by way of Prayer and Ejac¬ 
ulation .182 

A Prayer to be said in the beginning of a Sickness 189 
An act of Resignation to be said by a Sick Person in 
all the evil Accidents of his Sickness . . . 190 

A Pra) r er for the Grace of Patience . . . 191 

A Prayer to be said when the Sick Man takes Physic 194 

Sect. III. Of the Practice of the Grace of Faith in the 

time of Sickness.194 

Sect. IV. Acts of Faith, by way of Prayer and Ejacu¬ 
lation, to be said by Sick Men in the Days of their 
Temptation ........ 201 

The Prayer for the Grace and Strength of Faith . 204 

Sect. V. Of the Practice of the Grace of Repentance in 

the time of Sickness.205 

Sect. VI. Rules for the Practice of Repentance in Sick¬ 
ness .213 

Means of exciting Contrition, &c.218 

Sect. VII. Acts of Repentance, by way of Prayer and 

Ejaculation.226 

The Prayer for the Grace and Perfection of Repent¬ 
ance .229 

A Prayer for Pardon of Sins, to be said frequently in 

the time of Sickness.231 

An Act of Holy Resolution of Amendment of Life in 
case of Recovery.234 

Sect. VIII. An Analysis or Resolution of the Decalogue, 







XXVI 


CONTENTS. 


enumerating the Duties commanded, and the Sins 
forbidden in every Commandment, for the helping 
the Sick Man in making his Confession . . 235 

The special Precepts of the Gospel enumerated . 248 

Sect. IX. Of the Sick Man’s Practice of Charity and 

Justice, by way of Rule.253 

Sect. X. Acts of Charity, by way of Prayer and Ejacu¬ 
lation; which maybe also used for Thanksgiving 

in case of Recovery.260 

The Prayer.263 


CHAPTER V. 

Of Visitation of the Sick ; or. the Assistance 

THAT IS TO BE HONE TO DYING PERSONS BY” THE 

Ministry of their Cleiigy-Guides. . . . 266 

Sect. I. General Observations. 266 

Sect. II. Rules for the Manner of Visitation of Sick 

Persons.269 

Sect. III. Of Ministering in the Sick Man’s Confession 

of Sins and Repentance.274 

Arguments and Exhortations to move the Sick Man 

to Confession of Sins.274 

Instruments by way of Consideration, to awaken a 
Careless Person and a Stupid Conscience . . 2S0 

Sect. IV. Of Ministering to the Restitution and Pardon, 
or Reconciliation of the Sick Person, by administer¬ 
ing the holy Sacrament.294 

Sect. V. Of Ministering to the Sick Person by the 

Spiritual Man, as he is the Physician of Souls . 310 
Considerations against unreasonable Fears concerning 
Forgiveness of Sins.311 

An Exercise against Despair in the Day of our Death 322 

Sect. VI. Considerations against Presumption . . 331 


CONTENTS. 


xxv n 


Sect. VII. Offices to be said by the Minister in bis Vis¬ 
itation of the Sick.336 

The Prayer of St. Eustratius the Martyr . . 341 

A Prayer taken out of the Greek Euchologion, &c. . 342 

The Order of Recommendation of the Soul in its 

Agony.344 

Prayers to be said by the Surviving Friends in behalf 

of themselves.350 

A Prayer to be said in the case of a Sudden Death, 
or pressing fatal Danger.352 

Sect. VIII. A Peroration concerning the Contingencies 
and Treatings of our departed Friends after Death, 
in order to their Will and Burial .... 354 






I 



















THE RULE AND EXERCISES 
OF HOLY DYING. 


CHAPTER I. 

A GENERAL PREPARATION TOWARDS A HOLY AND BLESSED 
DEATH, BY WAY OF CONSIDERATION. 

Sect. I. — Consideration of the Vanity and 
Shortness of Mans 


ite. 


\ MAN is a bubble (said the Greek proverb) 
JC\ which Lucian * represents no ^ 6Av ^ 6 ^ pw7ros . 
with advantages and its proper * c/iar.c. 10. 

circumstances, to this purpose, saying, All the world 
is a storm, and men rise up in their several genera- 
tions like bubbles descending a Jove plnvio , from 
God and the dew of heaven, from a tear and drop 
of man, from nature and providence: and some of 
these instantly sink into the deluge of their first 
parent, and are hidden in a sheet of water, having 
had no other business in the world but to be born 
that they might be able to die: others float up and 
down two or three turns, and suddenly disappear, 
l 


A 






2 


GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 


[Crr. I. 


and give tlieir place to others: and they that live 
longest upon the face of the waters are in perpetual 
motion, restless and uneasy, and being crushed with 
a great drop of a cloud, sink into flatness and a 
froth ; the change not being great, it being hardly 
possible it should be more a nothing than it was 
before. So is every man : he is born in vanity and 
sin; he comes into the world like morning mush¬ 
rooms, soon thrusting up their heads into the air, 
and conversing with their kindred of the same pro¬ 
duction, and as soon as they, turn into dust and for¬ 
getfulness : some of them without any other interest 
in the affairs of the world but that they made their 
parents a little glad, and very sorrowful: others 
ride longer in the storm, it may be until seven 
years of vanity be expired, and then peradventure 
the sun shines hot upon their heads, and they fall 
into the shades below, into the cover of death and 
darkness of the grave to hide them. But if the 
bubble stands the shock of a bigger drop, and out¬ 
lives the chances of a child, of a careless nurse, of 
drowning in a pail of water, of being overlaid by a 
sleepy servant, or such little accidents, then the 
young man dances like a bubble empty and gay, 
and shines like a dove’s neck, or the image of a 
rainbow, which hath no substance, and whose very 
imagery and colors are fantastical; and so he dances 
out the gayety of his youth, and is all the while in 
a storm, and endures only because he is not knocked 
on the head by a drop of bigger rain, or crushed 


3 


Sect. l.J PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


* 11. vi. 140. 


by the pressure of a load of indigested meat, or 
quenched by the disorder of an ill-placed humor: 
and to preserve a man alive in the midst of so many 
chances and hostilities is as great a miracle as to 
create him ; to preserve him from rushing into 
nothing, and at first to draw him up from nothing, 
were equally the issues of an Almighty power. 
And therefore the wise men of the world have 
contended who shall best fit man’s condition with 
words signifying his vanity and short abode. Ilomer 
calls a man a leaf,* the smallest, 
the weakest piece of a short¬ 
lived, unsteady plant. Pindar calls him the dream 
of a shadow . f Another, the t PlJtlK viii 135 

dream of the shadow of smoke.% t Se e^ SC h.ap.stob .nor. 
But St. James spake by a more XCVU1 ’ 49 ' 
excellent spirit, saying, Our life is hut a vapor , viz. 
drawn from the earth by a celes¬ 
tial influence, made of smoke, or 
the lighter parts of water, tossed with every wind, 
moved by the motion of a superior body, without 
virtue in itself, lifted up on high, or left below, 
according as it pleases the sun its foster-father. 


James 4.14, alyus. 


But it is lighter vet. It is but 

O v 


< ficuvofiewrj. 


appearing; a fantastic vapor, an 
apparition, nothing real: it is not so much as a 
mist, not the matter of a shower, nor substantial 
enough to make a cloud; but it is like Cassiopeia’s 
chair, or Pelops’s shoulder, or the circles of heaven 
(ficuvofjLeva, for which you cannot have a word that 




4 


GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 


[Cii. I. 


can signify a verier nothing. And yet the expres¬ 
sion is one degree more made diminutive: A vapor, 

and fantastical, or a mere ap- 

np'os oAx-yov. ^ > p 

pearance, and this but for a little 
while neither; the very dream, the phantasm disap¬ 
pears in a small time, like the shadoiv that departeth, 
or like a tale that is told, or as a dream when one 
awaketli . A man is so vain, so unfixed, so perishing 
a creature, that he cannot long last in the scene 
of fancy: a man goes off and is forgotten like the 

To fie Ke<f>a\aiov tS)v \ 6 - clream of a distracted person. 

yu)V, avOpuinos el, Ov p.era- TllC SllKl of all is this : That 

Oolttov 7rpos vif/os, 

Kai nd\Lv TaneivorriTa, thou art a man , than whom there 

M™d A ZnuT'c-o»». is not in the world any greater 
ad Apoi. p. 103 d. instance of heights and declen¬ 

sions, of lights and shadows, of misery and folly, 
of laughter and tears, of groans and death. 

And because this consideration is of great use¬ 
fulness and great necessity to many purposes of 
wisdom and the spirit, all the succession of time, all 
the changes in nature, all the varieties of light and 
darkness, the thousand thousands of accidents in 
the world, and every contingency to every man and 
to every creature, doth preach our funeral sermon, 
and calls us to look and see how the old sexton 
Time throws up the earth, and digs a grave, where 
we must lay our sins or our sorrows, and sow our 
bodies, till they rise again in a fair or in an intol¬ 
erable eternity. Every revolution which the sun 
makes about the world divides between life and 


Sect. 1.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


5 


death; and death possesses both those portions by 
the next morrow, and we are „ihii .im q »i.,u«m <u 
dead to all those months which l u ™?* be n t , p ™ rmtterc - Id 

quoque quod tenetur per 

we have already lived, and we mani ! s exi £ et ip sam < i. uam 

v 7 premimus horam casus mci- 

shall never live them over again: dit - Vo , lvitur * em P us rata 
and still God makes little peri- rum.-sen.- 3 p. c l& 
ods of our age. First we change our world, when 
we come from the womb to feel the warmth of the 
sun. Then we sleep and enter into the image of 
death, in which state we are unconcerned in all the 
changes of the world : and if our mothers or our 
nurses die, or a wild boar destroy our vineyards, or 
our king be sick, we regard it not, but during that 
state are as disinterested as if our eyes were closed 
with the clay that weeps in the bowels of the earth. 
At the end of seven years our teeth fall and die 
before us, representing a formal prologue to the 
tragedy; and still every seven years it is odds but 
w r e shall finish the last scene: and when nature or 
chance or vice takes our body in pieces, weakening 
some parts and losing others, we taste the grave and 
the solemnities of our own funerals, first in those 
parts that ministered to vice, and next in them that 
served for ornament: and in a short time even they 
that served for necessity become useless, and en¬ 
tangled like the wheels of a 
broken clock. Baldness is but 
a dressing to our funerals, the 
proper ornament of mourning, 
and of a person entered very far into the regions 


Ut mortem citius venire cre¬ 
el as, 

Scito jam capitis perisse par¬ 
tem. 

l’etron. Sat. c. 109. 


c 


GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 


[Ch. I. 


and possession of death: and we have many more 
of the same signification : gray hairs, rotten teeth, 
dim eyes, trembling joints, short breath, stiff limbs, 
wrinkled skin, short memory, decayed appetite. 
Every day’s necessity calls for a reparation of 
that portion which death fed on all night when 
we lay in his lap, and slept in his outer chambers. 
The very spirits of a man prey upon the daily 
portion of bread and flesh, and every meal is a 
rescue from one death, and lays up for another : 
and while we think a thought we die; and the 
clock strikes, and reckons on our portion of eter¬ 
nity ; we form our words with the breath of our 
nostrils, we have the less to live upon for every 
word we speak. 

Thus nature calls us to meditate of death by those 
things which are the instruments of acting it: and 
God by all the variety of his providence makes 
us see death everywhere, in all variety of circum¬ 
stances, and dressed up for all the fancies and the 
expectation of every single person. Nature hath 
given us one harvest every year, but death hath 
two : and the spring and the autumn sends throngs 
of men and women to charnel-houses; and all the 
summer long men are recovering from their evils 
of the spring, till the dog-days come, and then the 
Sirian star makes the summer deadly ; and the 
fruits of autumn are laid up for all the year’s pro¬ 
vision, and the man that gathers them eats and 
surfeits, and dies and needs them not, and himself 


Sect. 1 ] PREPARA TOR 1' TO DEA TIL 


7 


is laid up for eternity ; and lie that escapes till* 
winter only stays for another opportunity, which 
the distempers of that quarter minister to him with 
great variety. Thus death reigns in all the portions 
of our time. The autumn with its fruits provides 
disorders for us, and the winter’s cold turns them 
into sharp diseases, and the spring brings flowers 
to strew our hearse, and the summer gives green 
turf and brambles to bind upon our graves. Cal¬ 
entures and surfeit, cold and agues, are the four 
quarters of the year, and all minister to death ; and 
you can go no whither but you tread upon a dead 
man’s bones. 

The wild fellow in Petronius that escaped upon 
a broken table from the furies 
of a shipwreck, as he was sun¬ 
ning himself upon the rocky shore, espied a man 
rolled upon his floating bed of waves,, ballasted 
with sand in the folds of his garment, and carried 
by his civil enemy the sea towards the shore to find 
a grave : and it cast him into some sad thoughts : 
That peradventure this man’s Navigation longas, et, 

. . n t pererratis littoribus alienis, 

wife ill some part ot the con- seros in patriam reditns 

. n , proponimus, militiam, ct 

tllieilt, Sate and warm, looks castrensium laborum tarda 
next month tor the good man s offl ciorumque per otucia 

. .. it* processus, cum interim ad 

1 etlll 11 . 01 it lliay be his son j a t u8 mors estf quae quoniam 

knows nothing of the tempest; 
or his father thinks of that af- “u2^S 
fectionate kiss which still is h««mra.-sen. 
warm upon the good old man’s cheek ever since 


Sat. c. 115. 


8 


GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 


[Ch. I. 


he took a kind farewell, and he weeps with joy to 
think how blessed he shall be when his beloved boy 
returns into the circle of his father’s arms. These 
are the thoughts of mortals, this the end and sum 
of all their designs : a dark night and an ill guide, 
a boisterous sea and a broken cable, a hard rock 
and a rough wind dashed in pieces the fortune of a 
whole family, and they that shall weep loudest for 
the accident are not yet entered into the storm, and 
yet have suffered shipwreck. Then looking upon 
the carcass, he knew it, and found it to be the mas¬ 
ter of the ship, who the day before cast up the 
accounts of his patrimony and his trade, and named 
the day when he thought to be at home. See how 
the man swims who was so angry two days since ; 
his passions are becalmed with the storm, his ac¬ 
counts cast up, his cares at an end, his voyage done, 
and his gains are the strange events of death ; which 
whether they be good or evil, the men that are alive 
seldom trouble themselves concerning the interest 
of the dead. 

But seas alone do not break our vessels in pieces : ' 
everywhere we may be shipwrecked. A valiant 
general, when he is to reap the harvest of his 
crowns and triumphs, fights unprosperously, or 
falls into a fever yvitli joy and wine, and changes 
his laurel into cypress, his triumphant chariot to 
a hearse ; dying the night before he was appointed 
to perish in the drunkenness of his festival joys. 
It was a sad arrest of the looseness and wilder 


Sect. 1.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


9 


feasts of the French court, when their king, Henry 
II., was killed really by the sportive image of a 
fight. And many brides have died under the hands 
of paranymphs and maidens dressing them for un¬ 
easy joy, the new and undiscerned chains of mar¬ 
riage, according to the saying of Ben-Sirach the 
wise Jew : “ The bride went into rrov . Alph , Ch a P h. ( cw«. 
her chamber , and knew not what Sacr -’ vul * Gyo ’ ed * Amst) 
should befall her there.” Some have been paying 
their vows, and giving thanks for a prosperous re¬ 
turn to their own house, and the roof hath descended 
upon their heads, and turned their loud religion 
into the deeper silence of a grave. And how many 
teeming mothers have rejoiced over their swell¬ 
ing wombs, and pleased themselves in becoming 
the channels of blessing to a n , 

° Quia lex caaem manefc omnes, 

family; and the midwife hath Gemitum dare «orte «ub una, 

J Cognataque funera nobis 

quickly bound their heads and Aliena in morte dolere. 

1 " < Prudent. Cathem. x. 65. 

feet, and carried them forth to 
burial! Or else the birthday of an heir hath seen 
the coffin of the father brought into the house, and 
the divided mother hath been forced to travail twice, 
with a painful birth, and a sadder death. 

There is no state, no accident, no circumstance 
of our life but it hath been soured by some sad in¬ 
stance of a dying friend; a friendly meeting often 
ends in some sad mischance, and makes an eternal 
parting : and when the poet 

1 # A21ian. De Nat. Anim. vii. 16. 

JEschylus was sitting under the 
walls of his house, an eagle hovering over his bald 
l * 





10 


GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS [Ch. I. 


head mistook it for a stone, and let fall his oyster, 
hoping there to break the shell, but pierced the 
poor man’s skull. 

Death meets us everywhere, and is procured by 
every instrument, and in all chances, and enters in 
at many doors ; by violence and secret influence, by 
the aspect of a star and the stink of a mist, by the 
emissions of a cloud and the meeting of a vapor, by 
the fall of a chariot and the stumbling at a stone, 
by a full meal or an empty stomach, by watching 
at the wine, or by watching at prayers, by the 
sun or the moon, by a heat or a cold, by sleepless 

nights or sleeping days, by water 

Autubi mors non est,siju- ° ^ 

guiatis aquas? frozen into the hardness and 

Mart. Epig. iv. 18. 8. 

sharpness of a dagger, or water 
thawed into the floods of a river, by a hair or a 

raisin,* by violent motion or sit¬ 
ting still, by severity or dissolu¬ 
tion, by God’s mercy or God’s anger, by everything 
in providence and everything in manners, by every¬ 
thing in nature and everything in chance. Eripitur 

t Lucret. iii. 68. 

— Curritmortalibusaevum, 

Nec nasci bis posse datur; fu- 
git bora, rapitque 
Tartareus torrens, ac secum 
ferre sub umbras. 

Si qua animo placuere, negat. 

Sil. Ital. xv. 63. 


* riin. Hist. Eat. vii. 5. 


persona , manet res t: we take 
pains to heap up things useful 
to our life, and get our death 
in the purchase ; and the per¬ 
son is snatched away, and the 
goods remain. And all this is the law and consti¬ 
tution of nature ; it is a punishment ,to our sins, the 
unalterable event of Providence, and the decree of 
Heaven. The chains that confine us to this con- 


Sect. 2 .] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


- 11 


dition are strong as destiny, and immutable as tlie 
eternal laws of God. 

I have conversed with some men who rejoiced in 
the death or calamity of others, and accounted it as 
a judgment upon them for being on the other side 
and against them in the contention ; but within the 
revolution of a few months the same men met with 
a more uneasy and unhandsome * TeOvaOi, Kr/pa 8 ’ eyio 


Tore Sei-o/xai, omrore ksv 
8 r) Zeus e9e\r) reAecrai. 


death: which when I saw, I wept 


and was afraid ; for I knew that llom - 1L xxii - 3G5 - 
it must be so with all men,* for we also shall die, 
and end our quarrels and contentions by passing to 
a final sentence. 



Sect. II. — The Consideration reduced to Practice. 

I T will be very material to our best and noblest 
purposes if we represent this scene of change 
and sorrow a little more dressed up in circumstances, 
for so we shall be more apt to practise those rules, 
the doctrine of which is consequent to this consider¬ 
ation. It is a mighty change that is made by the 
death of every person, and it is visible to us who 
are alive. Reckon but from the sprightfnlness of 
youth and the fair cheeks and the full eyes of child¬ 
hood, from the vigorousness and strong flexure of 
the joints of five and twenty, to the hollowness and 
dead paleness, to the loathsomeness and horror of a 
three days’ burial, and we shall perceive the dis¬ 
tance to be very great and very strange. But so I 




12 


GENERAL CONSIDERA TIONS 


[Cm I. 


have seen a rose newly springing from the clefts 
of its hood, and at first it was fair as the morning, 
and full with the dew of heaven, as a lamb’s fleece ; 
but when a ruder breath had forced open its virgin 
modesty, and dismantled its too youthful and unripe 
retirements, it began to put on darkness, and to de¬ 
cline to softness and the symptoms of a sickly age; 
it bowed the head, and broke its stalk, and at night, 
having lost some of its leaves and all its beauty, it 
fell into the portion of weeds and outworn faces. 
The same is the portion of every man and every 
woman ; the heritage of worms and serpents, rotten¬ 
ness and cold dishonor, and our beauty so changed, 
that our acquaintance quickly know us not; and 
that change mingled with so much horror, or else 
meets so with our fears and weak discoursings, that 
they who six hours ago tended upon us, either with 
charitable or ambitious services, cannot without some 
regret stay in the room alone where the body lies 
stripped of its life and honor. I have read of a 
fair young German gentleman, who, living, often 
refused to be pictured, but put off the importunity 
of his friends’ desire by giving way that after a few 
Anccps forma bonum mor- days bunal they might send a 
nSguTdonum breve tem- Pinter to his vault, and if they 

pons * saw cause for it, draw the image 

u y n u ?f r tcneris Qui radiat of his death unto the life. They 

Memento rapitur ! nullaque did S0 , and found llis face half 

Formosispoiium corporisab- eaten, and his midriff and back- 

stulit. 

sen. Hippoi. it. 7 Gi. bone full of serpents; and so he 


Sect. 2.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


13 


stands pictured amongst his armed ancestors. So 
does the fairest beauty change, and it will be as 
bad with you and me; and then, what servants 
shall we have to wait upon us in the grave ? what 
friends to visit us ? what officious people to cleanse 
away the moist and unwholesome cloud reflected 
upon our faces from the sides of the weeping vaults, 
which are the longest weepers for our funeral ? 

This discourse will be useful, if we consider and 
practise by the following rules and considerations 
respectively: — 

1. All the rich and all the covetous men in the 
world will perceive, and all the world will perceive 
for them, that it is but an ill recompense for all their 
cares, that by this time all that 

J > Rape, congere, aufer, pos- 

shall be left will be this, that Side ; relinquendum est. 

the neighbors shall say, he died 1 J 

a rich man: and yet his wealth will not profit him 
in the grave, but hugely swell the sad accounts of 
doomsday. And he that kills the Lord’s people 
with unjust or ambitious wars, 

" Annos omnes prodegit, tit 

for an unrewarding interest, ex co annus unus numere- 

° tur, et per mille indignitates 

shall have this character, that laboravit in tituium sepui- 

ehri. 

lie threw away all the days of see sen. De Brcv. vu. 

... c. 19. §3. 

his life that one year might be 

reckoned with his name, and computed by his reign 

or consulship: and many men by great labors and 

affronts, many indignities and . . ... 

crimes, labor only for a poill- possident,etnescioutrumde 

iis cogitent. — Gerson. 

pous epitaph, and a loud title 


14 


GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS [Ch. I. 


—Me veterum frcquens upon their marble; whilst those 

Memphis Pyramidum do- , . 

cet, into whose possessions the heirs 

Me press® tumulo lacryma , _ 

giori*, or kindred are entered are for- 

Me projecta jncentium , .. , , 

Passim per popuios busta gotten, and lie unregarded as 

Quintium, • ■■ -1 • 1 

X 1-v /-v ■ -» ft /s I'l /% i-* y 1 1 « > 1 4- I \ y'v « i 4> 


their ashes, and without con¬ 
cernment or relation, as the turf 
upon the face of their grave. A 
man may read a sermon, the best 


Et vilis Zephyro jocus 
Jactati cineres, et proeerum 


Fumantumque cadavera 
Regnorum, tacito, Rule, si- 


lentio, 

Mocstum niulta monent. 


Sarbiev. Lyric, u. 27. s. an( j mos fc passionate that ever 

man preached, if he shall but enter into the sepul¬ 
chres of kings. In the same Escurial where the 
Spanish princes live in greatness and power, and 
decree war or peace, they have wisely placed a 
cemetery where their ashes and their glory shall 
sleep till time shall be no more: and where our 
kings have been crowned, their ancestors lie in¬ 
terred, and they must walk over their grandsire’s 
head to take his crown. There is an acre sown 
with royal seed, the copy of the greatest change, 
from rich to naked, from ceiled roofs to arched 
coffins, from living like gods to die like men. There 
is enough to cool the flames of lust, to abate the 
heights of pride, to appease the itch of covetous 
desires, to sully and dash out the dissembling colors 
of a lustful, artificial, and imaginary beauty. There 
the warlike and the peaceful, the fortunate and the 
miserable, the beloved and the despised princes 
mingle their dust, and pay down their symbol of 
mortality, and tell all the world that, when we die, 
our ashes shall be equal to kings’, and our accounts 


Sect. 2.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


15 


easier, and our pains for our crowns shall he less. 
To my apprehension it is a sad record which is left 
by Athenseus concerning Ninus, the great Assyrian 
monarch, whose life and death is summed up in 
these words: “ Ninus the Assy- Ph „,„i* „ p . A the„. 
rian had an ocean of gold, and xu-40, 
other riches more than the sand in the Caspian sea ; 
he never saw the stars, and perhaps he never de¬ 
sired it; he never stirred up the holy fire among 
the Magi, nor touched his god with the sacred rod 
according to the laws ; he never offered sacrifice, 
nor worshipped the Deity, nor administered justice, 
nor spake to his people, nor numbered them: but 
he was most valiant to eat and drink, and having 
mingled his wines he threw the rest upon the stones. 
This man is dead: behold his sepulchre, and now 
hear where Ninus is. Sometimes I was Ninus, and 
drew the breath of a living man, but now am noth¬ 
ing but clay. I have nothing but what I did eat, 
and what I served to myself in lust; that was and 
is all my portion : the wealth with which I was 
esteemed blessed, my enemies meeting together shall 
bear away, as the mad Tliyades carry a raw goat. I 
am gone to hell; and when I , 



went thither, I neither carried ovS’ av (Twayayris 


Ta TavraAou TaAai'r’ e/cet- 
va Aeyo/xei'a, 


gold, nor horse, nor silver char¬ 


iot. I that wore a mitre, am ’ AAA ’ anoOavns, raDra 


T /caraAci't^ecs Ticriv. 

1 Menand. ap. Stob. Flor. 
xxii. 19. 


now a little Heap of dust.” 


know not anything that can 

better represent the evil condition of a wicked 


1G 


GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS [Ch. I. 


man, or a changing greatness. From the greatest 
secular dignity to dust and ashes his nature bears 
him, and from thence to hell his sins carry him, 
and there he shall be for ever under the dominion 
of chains and devils, wrath and intolerable calamity. 
This is the reward of an unsanctified condition, and 
a greatness ill gotten or ill administered. 

2 . Let no man extend his thoughts or let his hopes 
wander towards future and far-distant events and 
accidental contingencies. This day is mine and 
, , , yours, but ye know not what 

To crrjixepov ju.eA.ei /uot, ” ° 

To 5’ avpLov ri? oiSeu; shall he on the morrow ; and 

Anacr. Od. xv. 10. . n 

every morning creeps out of a 
dark cloud, leaving behind it an ignorance and 
silence deep as midnight, and undiscerned as are 
the phantasms that make a chrisom-child to smile: 
so that we canpot discern what comes hereafter, un¬ 
less we had a light from heaven brighter than the 
Quid sit futurum eras, fuge vision of an angel, even the spiiit 
Qucm Fm'dicrum c „„<iuo of prophecy. Without revela- 
Apponc lucr0 tion we cannot tell whether we 

nor. carm. i. o. 13. shall eat to-morrow, or whether 

a squinancy shall choke us : and it is written in the 
unrevealed folds of divine predestination, that many 
who are this day alive shall to-morrow be laid upon 
the cold earth, and the women shall weep over their 
shroud, and dress them for their funeral. St. James, 
in his Epistle, notes the folly of some men, his con¬ 
temporaries, who were so impatient of the event 
of to-morrow, or the accidents of next year, or the 


Sect. 2.] 


PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


17 


good or evils of old age, that they would consult 
astrologers and witches, oracles and devils, what 
should befall them the next calends; what should 
be the event of such a voyage ; what God had writ¬ 
ten in his book concerning the success of battles, 
the election of emperors, the heirs of families, the 
price of merchandise, the return of the Tyrian fleet, 
the rate of Sidonian carpets : and as they were 
taught by the crafty and lying demons, so they 
would expect the issue; and oftentimes by dis¬ 
posing their affairs in order towards such events, 
really did produce some little accidents according 
to their expectation; and that made them trust the 
oracles in greater things, and in all. Against this 
he opposes his counsel, that we should not search 
after forbidden records, much less by uncertain sig¬ 
nification : for whatsoever is disposed to happen by 
the order of natural causes, or 

. .-Nec Babylonios 

CIVll counsels, may be rescinded Tentarisnumcroa;utmelius 

T-» quicquid erit pati, 

by a peculiar decree ot -L l'OVl- Seu plures hiemes, seu tri- 
, . , . . buit Jupiter ultimam. 

dence, or be prevented by the Hor. oarm. i. n. 2. 
death of the interested persons ; At vos incertam, mortaics, 

1 _ funeris horam 

who while their hopes are full, Quasritis, et qua sit mors 

. . aditura via. 

and their causes conjoined, and Propcrt el u. 27 . 1. 
the work brought forward, and Poena ™ inor ? ertam subit0 

0 perferre ruinam ; 

the sickle put into the harvest, Quod timeas gravius susti- 
1 nuissc diu. 

and the first-fruits offered and Catui. [Maximian.j£i.i. 

277. 

ready to be eaten, even then if 

they put forth their hand to an event that stands 

but at the door, at that door their body may be 


B 


18 


GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 


|Ch. I. 


carried forth to burial before the expectation shall 
enter into fruition. When Richilda, the widow of 
Albert Earl of Ebersberg, had feasted the emperor 
Henry III. and petitioned in behalf of her nephew 
Welpho for some lands formerly possessed by the 
earl her husband, just as the emperor held out his 
hand to signify his consent, the chamber floor sud¬ 
denly fell under them, and Iiichilda falling upon the 
edge of a bathing vessel, was bruised to death, and 
stayed not to see her nephew sleep in those lands 
which the emperor was reaching forth to her, and 
placed at the door of restitution. 

3 . As our hopes must be confined, so must our 

Ccrta amittimus (lum in- (leSICJYlS . let US llOt pioject long 
cve t iut P in ,n iabore at a q tque h i , n designs, crafty plots, and dig- 

(lolore, ut mors obrepat in- gingg go <] eep t J lat the intrigues 

riaut. Pseud. ii.3. 19. G f a design shall never be un¬ 
folded till our grandchildren have forgotten our 
virtues or our vices. The work of our soul is cut 
short, facile, sweet, and plain, and fitted to the 
small portions of our shorter life ; and as we must 
not trouble our inquiry, so neither must we intri¬ 
cate our labor and purposes with what we shall 
never enjoy. This rule does not forbid us to plant 
orchards which shall feed our nephews with their 
fruit: for by such provisions they do something 
towards an imaginary immortality, and do charity 
to their relatives : but such projects are reproved 
which discompose our present duty by long and 
future designs; such which, by casting our labors 


Sect. 2.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


19 


to events at distance, make ns less to remember 
our death standing at the door. Quid brevi fortes jaculnmur 
It is fit for a man to work for Muita? 


Ilor. Cktrm. ii. 1G. 17. 


his day’s wages, or to contrive 
for the hire of a week, or to lay 
a train to make provisions for 


Jam te premet nox, fabu- 
lajque Manes, 

Et domus exilis Plutonia. 
Ilor. Cann. i. 4.1G. 


such a time as is within our eye, and in our duty, 
and within the usual periods of man’s life ; for 
whatsoever is made necessary is also made pru¬ 
dent : but while we plot and busy ourselves in the 
toils of an ambitious war, or the levies of a great 
estate, night enters in upon us, and tells all the 
world how like fools we lived, and how deceived 
and miserably we died. Seneca 
tells of Senecio Cornelius, a man 
crafty in getting and tenacious in holding a great 
estate, and one who was as diligent in the care of 
his body as of his money, curious of his health as 
of his possessions, that he all day long attended 
upon his sick and dying friends ; but when he went 
away was quickly comforted, supped merrily, went 
to bed cheerfully, and on a sudden being surprised 
by a squinancy, scarce drew his breath until the 
morning, but by that time died, being snatched from 
the torrent of his fortune, and the swelling tide of 
wealth, and a likely hope bigger than the necessi¬ 
ties of ten men. This accident was much noted 
then in lfome, because it happened in so great a 
fortune, and in the midst of wealthy designs ; and 
presently it made wise men to consider how impru- 


20 


GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 


[Ch. I. 


dent a person lie is who disposes of ten years to 
come, when he is not lord of to-morrow. 

4 . Though we must not look so far off, and pry 

abroad, yet we must be busy 

Ille enim ex futuro suspen- " m ^ 

ditur,cuiirritumestpresens, near at hand; we must with all 

Sen. Ep. ci.9. ... . 

arts ot the spirit seize upon the 
present, because it passes from us while we speak, 
and because in it all our certainty does consist. 
We must take our waters as out of a torrent and 
sudden shower, which will quickly cease dropping 
from above, and quickly cease running in our chan¬ 
nels here below. This instant will never return 
again, and yet it may be this instant will declare or 
secure the fortune of a whole eternity. The old 
Greeks and Romans taught us the prudence of this 
rule; but Christianity teaches us the religion of it. 
They so seized upon the present, that they would 

lose nothing of the day’s pleas- 

iEtate frucrc, mobili cursu ^ . 

fugit. lire. Let us eat and drink, for 

Sen. Hippol. ii. 440. 

to-morrow we shall die, that was 
their philosophy; and at their solemn feasts they 
would talk of death to heighten the present drink¬ 
ing, and that they might warm their veins with a 
fuller chalice, as knowing the drink that was poured 
upon their graves would be cold and without relish. 

Break the beds, drink your wine. 

Mart. Epig. ii. 50. 3. # K ' 

crown your heads with roses, and 
besmear your curled locks with nard; for God bids 
you to remember death: so the epigrammatist speaks 
the sense of their drunken principles. Something 


Sect. 2.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


21 


Eccles. 2. 24, & 3. 22. 


towards this signification is that of Solomon : There 
is nothing better for a man than 
that he should eat and drink, and 
that he should make Ins soul enjoy good in his labor ; 
for that is his 'portion ; for who shall bring him to 
see that which shall be after him ? But although lie 
concludes all this to he vanity, yet because it was 
the best thing that was then commonly known, 
* that they should seize upon . Amidi dum Tivimu!i 
the present with a temperate vlv “"o*; ut . ter . BCII . 3 . 
use of permitted pleasures, I nti/e, Aeyec. TO y\vfX /M, 

it . . i . • kclL ecrOie, kou nepiKfiao 

had reason to say that Chris- . Avfea . ro , o0TO1 y ^ s - 
tianity taught us to turn this 
into religion. 


For he that by 


e£a7ri'i/7js. 

Polemo ap. Brunck. 
Anal. ii. 184. 

. -i , , i t Hoc etiam faciuntubidiscu- 

a present and a constant lion- bU ere, tenentque 

Pocula saspe homines, et in- 
umbrant ora coronis. 


ness secures the present, and 

molrpa lmoful to llis noblest Exanimoi.tdicant, “Brevis 
lllilKCS It UbCIUI lO ms nouiesi cst hie fructus homullis, 

purposes, he turns his condi- Jani "®^ u ,® n ri 0 - 8 f t » ,n " 

11 7 quam rcvocarc licchit. 

tion into his best advantage, Lucret.in. 925. 


by making iiis unavoidable fate become his neces¬ 
sary religion. 

To the purpose of this rule is that collect of 
Tuscan hieroglyphics which we have from Gabriel 
Simeon. “ Our life is very short, beauty is a cozen¬ 
age, money is false and fugitive; empire is odious, 
and hated by them that have it not, and uneasy to 
them that have; victory is always uncertain, and 
peace most commonly is but a fraudulent bargain ; 
old age is miserable, death is the period, and is a 
happy one, if it be not soured by the sins of our 


22 


GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 


[Ch. I. 


life : but nothing continues but the effects of that 
wisdom which employs the present time in the acts 
of a holy religion and a peaceable conscience/’ For 
they make us to live even beyond our funerals, em¬ 
balmed in the spices and odors of a good name, and 
entombed in the grave of the holy Jesus, where we 
shall be dressed for a blessed resurrection to the 
■dtate of angels and beatified spirits. 

5 . Since we stay not here, being people but of a 
day’s abode, and our age is like that of a fly, and 
contemporary with a gourd, we must look some¬ 
where else for an abiding city, a place in another 
country to fix our house in, whose walls and founda¬ 
tion is God, where we must find rest, or else be 

Quis sapiens bono restless for ever. For wliatso- 

ConMet fragili ? dom licet, eyer eage W<J C{m ^ 0 p f anCy 

T horaque e<1 tacitum subrillt ’ here is shortly to be changed 
Semper pncteritadeteriorsu- j nto sa dness or 'tediousness : it 

bit. 

Sen. Hippoi. ii. 7*4. goes away too soon, like the 
periods of our life ; or stays too long, like the 
sorrows of a sinner : its own weariness, or a con¬ 
trary disturbance, is its load; or it is eased by its 
revolution into vanity and forgetfulness : and where 
either there is sorrow or an end of joy there can be 
no true felicity ; which because it must be had by 
some instrument, and in some period of our dura¬ 
tion, we must carry up our affections to the man¬ 
sions prepared for us above, where eternity is the 
measure, felicity is the state, angels are the com¬ 
pany, the Lamb is the light, and God is the portion 
and inheritance 


Skct. 3.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


23 


Sect. III. — Rules and spiritual Arts of lengthen¬ 
ing our days , and to tale off the objection of a 
short time. 

I N the accounts of a man’s life we do not reckon 
that portion of days in which we are shut up 
in the prison of the womb; we tell our years from 
the day of our birth: and the same reason that 
makes our reckoning to stay so long says also that 
then it begins too soon. For then we are beholden 
to others to make the account for us : for we know 
not of a long time whether we be alive or no, hav¬ 
ing but some little approaches and symptoms of a 
life. To feed, and sleep, and move a little, and 
imperfectly, is the state of an unborn child ; and 
when he is born, he does no more for a good while : 
and what is it that shall make him to be esteemed 
to live the life of a man ? and when shall that ac¬ 
count begin ? For we should be loath to have the 
accounts of our age taken by the measures of a 
beast: and fools and distracted persons are reckoned 
as civilly dead; they are no parts of the common¬ 
wealth, nor subject to laws, but secured by them in 
charity, and kept from violence as a man keeps his 
ox : and a third part of our life is spent before we 
enter into a higher order, into the state of a man. 

2. Neither must we think that the life of a man 
begins when he can feed himself or walk alone, 
when he can light or beget his like ; for so he is 
contemporary with a camel or a cow : but he is 


24 


GENERAL C0NS1DERA TIONS [Ch. I. 


first a limn when he comes to a certain steady use 
of reason, according, to his proportion; and when 
that is, all the world of men cannot tell precisely. 
Some are called at age at fourteen, some at one- 
and-twenty, some never; but all men late enough, 
for the life of a man comes upon him slowly and 
insensibly. But as when the sun approaches 
towards the gates of the morning, he first opens 
a little eye of heaven, and sends away the spirits 
of darkness, and gives light to a cock, and calls up 
the lark to matins, and, by and by, gilds the fringes 
of a cloud, and peeps over the eastern hills, thrust¬ 
ing out his golden horns, like those which decked 
the brows of Moses, when he was forced to wear a 
veil, because himself had seen the face of God ; 
and still while a man tells the story, the sun gets 
up higher, till he shows a fair face and a full light, 
and then he shines one whole day, under a cloud 
often, and sometimes weeping great and little show¬ 
ers, and sets quickly: so is a man’s reason and his 
life. He first begins to perceive himself to see or 
taste, making little reflections upon his actions of 
sense, and can discourse of Hies and dogs, shells and 
play> horses and liberty: but when he is strong 
enough to enter into arts and little institutions, he 
is at first entertained with trifles and impertinent 
things, not because he needs them, but because his 
understanding is no bigger, and little images of 
things are laid before him, like a cockboat to a 
whale, only to play withal: but before a man comes 


Sjsct. 3.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. ' 25 

to be wise, he is half dead with gouts and consump¬ 
tion, with catarrhs and aches, with sore eyes and a 
worn-out body. So that if we must not reckon the 
life of a man but by the accounts of his reason, he 
is long before his soul be dressed: and he is not 
to be called a man without a wise' and an adorned 
soul, a soul at least furnished with what is neces¬ 
sary towards his well-being: but by that time his 
soul is thus furnished, his body is decayed; and 
then you can hardly reckon him to be alive, when 
his body is possessed by so many degrees of death. 

3. But there is yet another arrest. At first he 
wants strength of body, and then he wants the 
use of reason, and when that is come, it is ten to 
one but he stops by the impediments of vice, and 
wants the strengths of the spirit; and we know 
that body and soul and spirit are the constituent 
parts of every Christian man. And now let us 
consider what that thing is which we call years of 
discretion. The young man is past his tutors, and 
arrived at the bondage of a caitive spirit; lie is run 
from discipline, and is let loose to passion; the man 
by this time hath wit enough to choose his vice, to 
act his lust, to court his mistress, to talk confidently 
and ignorantly and perpetually, to despise his bet¬ 
ters, to deny nothing to his appetite, to do things 
that when he is indeed a man he must for ever be 
ashamed of: for this is all the discretion that most 
men show in the first stage of their manhood; they 
can discern good from evil; and they prove their 
2 



26 


GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 


[Cm I. 


skill by leaving all that is good, and wallowing in 
the evils of folly and an unbridled appetite. And 
by this time the young man hath contracted vicious 
habits, and is a beast in manners, and therefore it 
will not be fitting to reckon the beginning of his 
life ; he is a fool in his understanding, and that is 
a sad death; and he is dead in trespasses and sins, 
and that is a sadder: so that he hath no life but a 
natural, the life of a beast or a tree; in all other 
capacities he is dead; he neither hath the intellect¬ 
ual nor the spiritual life, neither the life of a man 
nor of a Christian ;'and this sad truth lasts too long. 
For old age seizes upon most men while they still 
retain the minds of boys and vicious youth, doing 
actions from principles of great folly and a mighty 
ignorance, admiring things useless and hurtful, and 
filling up all the dimensions of their abode with 
businesses of empty affairs, being at leisure to at¬ 
tend no virtue. They cannot pray, because they 
are busy, and because they are passionate: they 
cannot communicate, because they have quarrels 
and intrigues of perplexed causes, complicated hos¬ 
tilities, and things of the world, and therefore they 
cannot attend to the things of God : little consider¬ 
ing that they must find a time to die in ; when death 
comes, they must be at leisure for that. Such men 
are like sailors loosing from a port, and tost im¬ 
mediately with a perpetual tempest lasting till their 
cordage crack, and either they sink, or return back 
again to the same place: they did not make a 


Sect. 3.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


27 


voyage, though they were long at sea. The busi¬ 
ness and impertinent affairs of most men steal all 
their time, and they are restless in a foolish motion: 
but this is not the progress of a Bi , jam pH! „ c tlbi con!u , 
man; he is no further advanced 
in the course of a life, though he Mart ' Epig ‘ u 1G ‘ 3 * 
reckons many years ; for still his soul is childish, 
and trilling like an untaught boy. 

If the parts of this sad complaint find their rem¬ 
edy, we have by the same instruments also cured 
the evils and the vanity of a short life. Therefore, 

1. Be infinitely curious you do not set back your 
life in the accounts of God by the intermingling of 
criminal actions, or the contracting vicious habits. 
There are some vices which carry a sword in their 
hand, and cut a man off before his time. There is 
a sivord of the Lord , and there is a sword of a man , 
and there is a sword of the Devil. Every vice of 
our own managing in the matter of carnality, of lust 
or rage, ambition or revenge, is a sword of Satan 


put into the hands of a man : these are the destroy¬ 
ing angels ; sin is the Apollyon, the Destroyer that 
is gone out, not from the Lord , but from the Tempter ; 
and we hug the poison, and twist willingly with the 
vipers, till they bring us into the regions of an irre¬ 
coverable sorrow. We use to reckon persons as 
e;ood as dead if they have lost their limbs and their 
teeth, and are confined to an hospital, and converse 
with none but surgeons and physicians, mourners 
and divines, those pollinctores , the dressers of bodies 


28 


GENERAL CQNSIDERA TIONS 


[Cir. I. 


and sonls to funeral; but it is worse when the soul, 
the principle of life, is employed wholly in the 
offices of death. and that man was worse than dead 
of whom Seneca tells, that, being a rich fool, when 
he was lifted up from the baths and set into a soft 


couch, asked his slaves, An ego 
jam sedeo ? “ Do I now sit ? ” 


De Brev. Vit. c. 12. § C. 


The beast was so drowned in sensuality and the 
death of his soul, that, whether he did sit or no, he 
was to believe another. Idleness and every vice is 
as much of death as a long disease is, or the expense 


of ten years: and she that lives 
in pleasure is dead while she 


1 Tim. v. 6. Epli. ii. 1. 


liveth , saith the Apostle; and it is the style of the 
Spirit concerning wicked persons, they are dead in 
trespasses and sins. For as every sensual pleas¬ 
ure and every day of idleness and useless living 
lops off a little branch from our short life, so every 
deadly sin and every habitual vice does quite de¬ 
stroy us: but innocence leaves us in our natural 
portions and perfect period ; we lose nothing of 
our life if we lose nothing of our soul’s health ; and 
therefore he that would live a full age must avoid 
a sin, as he would decline the regions of death and 
the dishonors of the grave. 

2. If we would have our life lengthened, let ns 
Edepoi, proinde ut bone begin betimes to live in the 

vivitur, diu vivitur „ 

riaut. Trin. i. 2 . 27 . accounts ot reason and sober 

Non accepimusbrevem vi- _i n i* • n . . 

tarn,sed fecimus; nec inopes COUnSClS, OI idlgioil and tllC 


ejus, sed prodigi sumus. 
Sen. De Brev. Vit. c. 1. § 4, 


Spirit, and then we, shall have 


Sect. 3.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


29 


no reason to complain that our abode on earth is 
so short: many men find it long enough, and indeed 
it is so to all senses. But when we spend in waste 
what God hath given us in plenty, when we sacri¬ 
fice our youth to folly, our manhood to lust and 
rage, our old age to covetousness and irreligion, not 
beginning to live till we are to die, designing that 
time to virtue which indeed is infirm to everything 
and profitable to nothing, then we make our lives 
short, and lust runs away with all the vigorous and 
healthful part of it, and pride and animosity steal 
the manly portion, and craftiness and interest pos¬ 
sess old age ; velut ex pleno et abundanti perdimus , 
we spend as if we had too much time, and knew not 
wdiat to do with it; we fear everything, like weak 
and silly mortals, and desire strangely and greedily, 
as if we were immortal: we complain our life is 
short, and yet we throw away much of it, and are 
weary of many of its parts : we complain the day 
is long, and the night is long, and we want com¬ 
pany, and seek out arts to drive the time away, and 
then weep because it is gone too soon. But so the 
treasure of the capitol is but a small estate when 
Caesar comes to finger it, and to pay with it all 
his legions ; and the revenue of all Egypt and the 
eastern provinces was but a little sum when they 
were to support the luxury of Mark Antony, and 
feed the riot of Cleopatra. But a thousand crowns 
is a vast proportion to be spent in the cottage of a 
frugal person, or to feed a hermit. Just so is our 



30 


GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 


[Ch. I. 


life: it is too short to serve the ambition of a 
haughty prince, or an usurping rebel; too little 
time to purchase great wealth, to satisfy the pride 
of a vainglorious fool, to trample upon all the ene¬ 
mies of our just or unjust interest: but for the 
obtaining virtue, for the purchase of sobriety and 
modesty, for the actions of religion, God gave us 
time sufficient, if we make the outgoings of the 
morning and evening , that is, our infancy and old 
age, to be taken into the computations of a man. 
Which we may see in the following particulars. 

1. If our childhood, being first consecrated by a 
forward baptism, be seconded by a holy education, 
and a complying obedience; if our youth be chaste 
and temperate, modest and industrious, proceeding 
c , . „ ... . through a prudent and sober 

Sod potes, Publi, geminare & 1 

inagna manhood to a religious old age ; 

Secula fama. “ o 7 

Quern sui raptum gemuere then We have lived OU1’ whole 


cives, 


Hicdiuvixit. sibi quisque duration, and shall never die, 

famam 


Scribat heredem; rapiunt blit be changed ill a jllSt time 


avaraj 


cetera nun*, to the preparations of a better 

Sarbiev. Lytic, ii. 2.15. . 

and an immortal life. 

2. If besides the ordinary returns of our prayers, 
and periodical and festival solemnities, and our sel¬ 
dom communions, we would allow to religion and 
the studies of wisdom those great shares that are 
trifled away upon vain sorrow, foolish mirth, trouble¬ 
some ambition, busy covetousness, watchful lust, and 
impertinent amours, and balls and revellings and 
banquets; all that which was spent viciously, and 


Sect. 3.] 


PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


31 


all that time that lay follow and without employ¬ 
ment, our life would quickly amount to a great sum. 
Tostatus Abulensis was a very painful person, and 
a great clerk, and in the days of his manhood he 
wrote so many hooks, and they not ill ones, that 
the world computed a sheet for every day of his 
life ; I suppose they meant after he came to the 
use of reason and the state of a man: and John 
Scotus died about the two-and-thirtieth year of his 
age, and yet, besides his public disputations, his 
daily lectures of divinity in public and private, the 
books that he wrote being lately collected and 
printed at Lyons, do equal the number of volumes 
of any two the most voluminous fathers of the 
Latin Church. Every man is not enabled to such 
employments, but every man is called and enabled 
to the works of a sober and religious life ; and 
there are many saints of God that can reckon as 
many volumes of religion and mountains of piety 
as those others did of good books. St. Ambrose 
(and I think, from his example, St. Augustine) 
divided every day into three tertias of employment: 
eight hours he spent in the necessities of nature 
and recreation ; eight hours in charity and doing 
assistance to others, despatching their businesses, 
reconciling their enmities, reproving their vices, 
correcting their errors, instructing their ignorances, 
transacting the affairs of his diocese; and the other 
eight hours he spent in study and prayer. If we 
were thus minute and curious in the spending our 


32 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS [Ch. I. 

time, it is impossible but our life would seem very 
long. For so have I seen an amorous person tell 
the minutes of his absence from his fancied joy ; 
and while he told the sands of his hour-glass, or 
the throbs and little beatings of his watch, by divid¬ 
ing an hour into so many members, he sjiun out its 
length by number, and so translated a day into the 
tediousness of a month. And if we tell our days 
by canonical hours of prayer, our weeks by a con¬ 
stant revolution of fasting-days or days of special 
devotion, and over all these draw a black cypress, 
a veil of penitential sorrow and severe mortification, 
we shall soon answer the calumny and objection of 
a short life. He that governs the day and divides 
the hours hastens from the eyes and observation 
of a merry sinner; but loves to stand still, and 
behold, and tell the sighs, and number the groans 
and sadly delicious accents of a grieved penitent. 
It is a vast work that any man may do if he never 
be idle: and it is a huge way that a man may go 
in virtue if he never goes out of his way by a vicious 
habit or a great crime ; and he that perpetually 
reads good books, if his parts be answerable, will 
have a huge stock of knowledge. It is so in all 
things else. Strive not to forget your time, and 
suffer none of it to pass undiscerned ; and then 
measure your life, and tell me how you find the 
measure of its abode. However, the time we live 
is worth the money we pay for it; and therefore it 
is not to be thrown away. 


Sect. 3.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


33 


3. When vicious men are dying, and scared with 
the affrightening truths of an evil conscience, they 
would give all the world for a year, for a month; 
nay, we read of some that called out with -amaze¬ 
ment, Inducias usque ad mane ; truce but till the 
morning: and if that a year or some few months 
were given, those men think they could do mira¬ 
cles in it. And let us awhile suppose what Dives 
would have done if he had been loosed from the 
pains of hell, and permitted to live on earth one 
year. Would all the pleasures of the world have 
kept him one hour from the temple ? would he not 
perpetually have been under the hands of priests, 
or at the feet of the doctors, or by Moses’s chair, 
or attending as near the altar as he could get, or 
relieving poor Lazarus, or praying to God, and 
crucifying all his sins ? I have read of a melan¬ 
cholic person who saw hell but in a dream or vision, 
and the amazement was such that he would have 
chosen ten times to die rather than feel again so 
much of that horror: and such a person cannot be 
fancied but that he would spend a year in such 
holiness, that the religion of a few months would 
equal the devotions of many years, even of a good 
man. Let us but compute the proportions. If we 
should spend all our years of reason so as such 
a person would spend that one, can it be thought 
that life would be short and trifling in which he 
had performed such a religion, served God with so 
much holiness, mortified sin with so great a labor, 
2 * c 


34 


GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS [Ch. I. 


purchased virtue at such a rate and so rare an in¬ 
dustry ? It must needs be that such a man must 
die when he ought to die, and be like ripe and 

pleasant fruit falling from a fair 
tree, and gathered into baskets 
for the planter’s use. He that 
hath done all his business, and 
is begotten to a glorious hope by the seed of an 
immortal spirit, can never die too soon, nor live 
too long. 


Huic neque defungi visum 
est, nec vivere pulchrum; 
Cura fuit recte vivere, sic- 
que mori. 

See Plut. Cons, ad Apol. 
p. 110 c. 


Xerxes wept sadly when he saw his army of 

thirteen hundred thousand men, 

Herodot vii. 40. . , 

because he considered that with¬ 
in a hundred years all the youth of that army should 

be dust and ashes ; and yet, as 

* Be Brev. Vit. c. 10. § 5. J \ 

beneca* well observes ot him, 
he was the man that should bring them to their 


graves ; and he consumed all that army in two 
years, for whom he feared and wept the death after 
an hundred. Just so we do all. We complain that 
within thirty or forty years, a little more or a great 
deal less, we shall descend again into the bowels 
of our mother, and that our life is too short for any 
great employment; and yet we throw away five- 
and-thirty years of our forty, and the remaining 
live we divide between art and nature, civility and 
customs, necessity and convenience, prudent coun¬ 
sels and religion : but the portion of the last is little 
and contemptible, and yet that little is all that we 
can prudently account of our lives. We bring that 


Sect. 3.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


35 


fate and that death near us, of whose approach we 
are so sadly apprehensive. 

4. In taking the accounts of your life do not 
reckon by great distances, and by the periods of 
pleasure, or the satisfaction of your hopes, or the 
sating your desires: but let every intermedial day 
and hour pass with observation. 

He that reckons he hath 1 ived tcm“™ 

but so many harvests, thinks 
they come not often enough, ™™ i ° miua efficiens metus 
and that they go away too Ex hac ^tem mdigentia 
soon. Some lose the day with futuri exedens ammum. 

J Sen. Ep. cu 10,8. 

longing for the night, and the 
night in waiting for the day. Hope and fantastic 
expectations spend much of our lives ; and while 
with passion we look for a coronation, or the death 
of an enemy, or a day of joy, passing from fancy 
to possession without any intermedial notices, we 
throw away a precious year, and use it but as 
the burden of our time, fit to be pared off and 
thrown away, that we may come at those little 
pleasures which first steal our hearts, and then 
steal our life. 

5. A strict course of piety is the way to prolong 
our lives in the natural sense, and to add good 
portions to the number of our years: and sin is 
sometimes by natural causality, very often by the 
anger of God, and the divine judgment, a cause 
of sudden and untimely death. Concerning which 
I shall add nothing (to what I have somewhere 


GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 


[Cii. I. 


a r* 

O U 

else* said of this article) but only the observation 

of f Epiphanius ; that for 3332 

'* Life of Christ, Part III. 

Disc. H. years, even to the twentieth age, 

t Ilajr. i. C. , , a 

there was not one example ot a 
son that died before his father, but the course of 
nature was kept, that he who was first-born in the 
descending line did first die, (I speak of natural 
death, and therefore Abel cannot be opposed to 
this observation,) till that Terah, the father of 
Abraham, taught the people a new religion, to 
make images of clay and worship them; and con¬ 
cerning him it was first remarked, that Haran died 
before his father Terah in the land of his nativity ; 
God, by an unheard-of judgment and rare accident, 
punishing his newly-invented crime by the untimely 
death of his son. 

. G. But if I shall describe a living man, a man 

that hath that life that distinguishes him from a 

© 

fool or a bird, that which gives him a capacity next 
to angels, we shall find that even a good man lives 
not long, because it is long before he is born to this 
life, and longer yet before he hath a man’s growth. 

“ He that can look upon death, 

Sen. Dc Vita beata, c. 20. 1 

and see its face with the same 
countenance with which he hears its story ; that can 
endure all the labors of his life with his soul sup¬ 
porting his body; that can equally despise riches 
when he hath them, and when he hath them not; 
that is not sadder if they lie in his neighbor’s trunks, 
nor more brag if they shine round about his own 


Sect. 3.] 


PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


37 


walls ; lie that is neither moved with good fortune 
coming to him, nor going from him ; that can look 
upon another man’s lands evenly and pleasedly as 
if they Were his own, and yet look upon his own, 
and use them too, just as if they were another 
man’s ; that neither spends his goods prodigally 
and like a fool, nor yet keeps them avariciously 
and like a wretch ; that weighs not benefits by 
weight and number, but by the mind and circum¬ 
stances of him that gives them ; that never thinks 
his charity expensive if a worthy person be the 
receiver ; he that does nothing for opinion sake, 
but everything for conscience, being as curious of 
his thoughts as of his actings in markets and thea¬ 
tres, and is as much in awe of himself as of a whole 
assembly ; he that knows God looks on, and con¬ 
trives his secret affairs as in the presence of God 
and his holy angels ; that eats and drinks because 
he needs it, not that he may serve a lust or load 
his belly; he that is bountiful and cheerful to his 
friends, and charitable and apt to forgive his ene¬ 
mies ; that loves his country, and obeys his prince, 
and desires and endeavors nothing more than that 
they may- do honor to God ”: this person maj 
reckon his life to be the life of a man, and com 
pute his months, not by the course of the sun, bn, 
the zodiac and circle of his virtues; because theoe 
are such things which fools and children, and birds 
and beasts cannot have; these are therefore the 
actions of life, because they are the seeds of im- 


38 


GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS [Ch. I. 


mortality. That day in which we have done some 
excellent thing we may as truly reckon to be added 
to our life as were the fifteen years to the days of 
Hezekiah. 

Sect. IV. — Consideration of the Miseries of Man's 


Life. 


S our life is very short , so it is very miserable , 



iV and therefore it is well it is short. God, in 
pity to mankind, lest his burden should be insup¬ 
portable, and his nature an intolerable load, hath 
reduced our state of misery to an abbreviature ; and 
the greater our misery is, the less while it is like 
to last: the sorrows of a man’s spirit being like 
ponderous weights, which by the greatness of their 
burden make a swifter motion, and descend into 
the grave to rest and ease our wearied limbs; for 
then only we shall sleep quietly, when those fetters 
are knocked off, which not only bound our souls in 
prison, but also ate the flesh till the very bones 
opened the secret garments of their cartilages, dis¬ 
covering their nakedness and sorrow. 

1. Here is no place to sit down in, but' you must 


rise as soon as you are set; for 
we have gnats in our chambers, 
and worms in our gardens, and 


Nulla requics in terris; sur- 
gite, postquam sederetis; hie 
cst locus pulicum et culi- 
cum. 


spiders and flies in the palaces of the greatest kings. 
How few men in the world are prosperous! What 
an infinite number o^ slaves and beggars, of perse- 


Sect. 4.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


39 


cuted and oppressed people fill all corners of the 
earth with groans, and heaven itself with weeping 
prayers and sad remembrances ! how many prov¬ 
inces and kingdoms are afflicted by a violent war, 
or made desolate by popular diseases ! Some whole 
countries are remarked with fatal evils, or periodi¬ 
cal sicknesses. Grand Cairo in Egypt feels the 
plague every three years returning like a quartan 
ague, and destroying many thousands of persons. 
All the inhabitants of Arabia the Desert are in 
continual fear of being buried in huge heaps of 
sand; and therefore dwell in tents and ambulatory 
houses, or retire to unfruitful mountains, to prolong 
an uneasy and wilder life. And all the countries 
round about the Adriatic Sea feel such violent con¬ 
vulsions by tempests and intolerable earthquakes, 
that sometimes whole cities find a tomb, and every 
man sinks with his own house made ready to be¬ 
come his monument, and his bed is crushed into 
the disorders of a grave. Was not all the world 
drowned at one deluge and breach of the Divine 
aimer ; and shall not all the 
world* again be destroyed by 
fire ? Are there not many thou¬ 
sands that die every night, and 
that groan and weep sadly every day ? But what 
shall we think of that great evil which for the sins 
of men God hath suffered to possess the greatest 
part of mankind ? Most of the men that are now 
alive, or that have been living for many ages, are 


* ’Eorai Ka'i 2a/xos a/u.ju. 09 , 
ecretrai At}Ao? aSijAo?, 
Kai 'Pu>ixrj pv/xr). 

Orac. Sibyll. iii. 3G3. 


40 


GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS [Ch. I 


Jews, heathens, or Turks: and God was pleased 
to suffer a base epileptic person, a villain and a 
vicious, to set up a religion which hath filled all 
the nearer parts of Asia, and much of Africa, and 
some parts of Europe; so that the greatest number 
of men and women born in so many kingdoms and 
provinces are infallibly made Mahometan, strangers * 
and enemies to Christ, by whom alone we can be 
saved. This consideration is extremely sad, when 
we remember how universal and how great an evil 
it is, that so many millions of sons and daughters 
are born to enter into the possession of devils to 
eternal ages. These evils are the miseries of great 
parts of mankind, and we cannot easily consider 
more particularly the evils which happen to us, 
being the inseparable affections or incidents to the 
whole nature of man. 

2. We find that all the women in the world are 
either born for barrenness or the pains of childbirth, 
and yet this is one of our greatest blessings : but 
such indeed are the blessings of this world, we 
cannot be well with nor without many things. Per¬ 
fumes make our heads ache, roses prick our fingers, 
and in our very blood, where our life dwells, is the 
scene under which nature acts many sharp fevers 
and heavy sicknesses. It were too sad if I should 
tell how many persons are afflicted with evil spirits, 
with spectres and illusions of the night; and that 
huge multitudes of men and women live upon man’s 
flesh ; nay, worse yet, upon the sins of men, upon 


Sect. 4 .] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 41 

the sins of their sons and of their daughters, and 
they pay their souls down for the bread they eat, 
buying this day’s meal with the price of the last 
night’s sin. 

3. Or if you please in charity to visit an hospital, 
which is indeed a map of the whole world, there you 
shall see the effects of Adam’s sin, and the ruins of 
human nature ; bodies laid up in heaps like the 
bones of a destroyed town ; homines precarii spiritus 
et male kcerentis, men whose souls seem to be bor¬ 
rowed, and are kept there by art and the force of 
medicine, whose miseries are so great that few peo¬ 
ple have charity or humanity enough to visit them, 
fewer have the heart to dress them, and we pity 
them in civility or with a transient prayer, but we 
do not feel their sorrows by the mercies of a relig¬ 
ious pity : and therefore as we leave their sorrows 
in many degrees unrelieved and uneased, so we 
contract by our unmercifulness a guilt by which 
ourselves become liable to the same calamities. 
Those many that need pity, and those infinites of 
people that refuse to pity, are miserable upon a 
several charge, but yet they almost make up all 
mankind. 

4. All wicked men are in love with that which 
entangles them in huge varieties of troubles ; they 
are slaves to the worst of masters, to sin and to 
the Devil, to a passion, and to an imperious woman. 
Good men are for ever persecuted, and God chas¬ 
tises every son whom he receives, and whatsoever 


42 


GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 


[Cii. I. 


is easy is trifling and worth nothing, and whatso¬ 
ever is excellent is not to be obtained without labor 


and sorrow; and the conditions 
and states of men that are free 
from great cares are such as 
have in them nothing rich and 
orderly, and those that have 
are stuck full of thorns and 


* Vilis adulator picto jacet 
ebrius ostro, 


Et qui sollicitat nuptas, ad 
prasmia peccat. 


Sola pruinosis horret facun- 
dia pannis, 


Atque inopi lingua desertas 
invocat artes. 


Petron. Sat. c. 83. 


Hinc et jocus apud Aristo- 


P »8] e * m m Avibus [ver ' trouble. Kings are full of care; 

2u rot anoKdSa *ai and learned men *in all ages 
xuw exeis- attoSvOl, } iave t>gg n observed to be very 



poor, et honestas miserias accu 


scmt, they complain of their honest miseries. 

5. But these evils are notorious and confessed ; 
even they also whose felicity men stare at and ad¬ 
mire, besides their splendor and the sharpness of 
their light, will with their appendant sorrows wring 
a tear from the most resolved eye : for not only 
the winter-quarter is full of storms and cold and 
darkness, but the beauteous spring hath blasts and 
sharp frosts, the fruitful teeming summer is melted 
with heat, and burnt with the kisses of the sun her 
friend, and choked with dust, and the rich autumn 
is full of sickness, and we are weary of that which 
we enjoy, because sorrow is its bigger portion : and 
when we remember that upon the fairest face is 
placed one of the worst sinks of the body, the nose, 
we may use it not only as a mortification to the 
pride of beauty, but as an allay to the fairest out¬ 
side of condition which any of the sons and daugh- 


Sect. 4.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


43 


casam. 

Petron. Frag. p. 872 ed. 
Burra. 


ters of Adam do possess. For look upon kings 
and conquerors: I will not tell that many of them 
tall into the condition of SCI- yiiisservushabctrcgnibona, 
vants, and their subjects rule 
over them, and stand upon the que 
ruins of their families, and that 
to such persons the sorrow is bigger than usually 
happens in smaller fortunes : 

Omnia, crede mihi, etiam 

but let US suppose them still felicibus dubia sunt. 

Sen. Ep. ci. 5. 

conquerors, and see what a 
goodly purchase they get by all their pains, and 
amazing fears, and continual dangers. They carry 
their arms beyond Ister, and pass the Euphrates, 
and bind the Germans with the bounds of the river 
Rhine : I speak in the style of the Roman great¬ 
ness ; for now-a-days the biggest fortune swells not 
beyond the limits of a petty province or two, and 
a hill confines the progress of their prosperity, or a 
river checks it. But whatsoever tempts the pride 
and vanity of ambitious persons is not so big as 
the smallest star which we see scattered in disorder 
and unregarded upon the pavement and floor of 
heaven. And if we would suppose the pismires 
had but our understanding, they also would have 
the method of a man’s greatness, and divide their 
little mole-hills into provinces and exarchates: and 
if they also grew as vicious and as miserable, one 
of their princes would lead an army out, and kill 
his neighbor ants, that he might reign over the 
next handful of a turf. But then if we consider 



44 


GENERAL CONSIDER A TJONS 


[Ch. I. 


at what price and with what felicity all this is pur-, 
chased, the sting of the painted snake will quickly 
appear, and the fairest of their fortunes will prop¬ 
erly enter into this account of human infelicities. 

We may guess at it by the constitution of Augus¬ 
tus’s fortune, who struggled for his power first with 
the Roman citizens, then with Brutus and Cassius 
and all the fortune of the republic, then with his 
colleague Mark Antony, then with his kindred and 
nearest relatives ; and after he was wearied with 
slaughter of the Romans, before he could sit down 
and rest in his imperial chair, he was forced to 
carry armies into Macedonia, Galatia, beyond Eu¬ 
phrates, Rhine, and Danubius; and when he dwelt 
at home in greatness and within the circles of a 
mighty power, he hardly escaj3ed the sword of the 
Egnatii, of Lepidus, Cmpio and Murena ; and after 
he had entirely reduced the felicity and grandeur 
into his own family, his daughter, his only child, con- 
Et aduiterio vciut sacra- spiied with many of the young 
mt ' llt0 sen da 2'Brer.Fi(.c. 5 . nobility, and being joined with 
riusqueetiterumtimenda adulterous complications as with 

cum Antonio mulicr r 

sen. ibid. an impious sacrament, they af¬ 
frighted and destroyed the fortune of the old man, 
and wrought him more sorrow than all the troubles 
that were hatched in the baths and beds of Egypt 
between Antony and Cleopatra. This was the 
greatest fortune that the world had then or ever 
since, and therefore we cannot expect it to be bet¬ 
ter in a less prosperity. 


Sect. 4.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


45 


0. The prosperity of this world is so infinitely 
soured with the overflowing of evils, that he is 
counted the most happy who hath the fewest; all 
conditions being evil and miserable, they are only 
distinguished by the number of calamities. The col¬ 
lector of the Roman and foreign 
examples, when he had reckoned 
two-and-twenty instances of great fortunes, every 
one of which had been allayed with great variety 
of evils; in all his reading or experience he could 
tell but of two who had been famed for an entire 
prosperity, Quintus Metellus, and Gyges the king 
of Lydia: and yet concerning the one of them he 
tells, that his felicity was so inconsiderable, (and 
yet it was -the bigger of the two,) that the oracle 
said, that Aglaus Sophidius the poor Arcadian shep¬ 
herd was more happy than he, that is, he had fewer 
troubles; for so indeed we are , 0po? toO 
to reckon the pleasures of this v navrbi too 6.\- 

.... j t• .. .. • . j7 yoOi/TOS wjrefaipeo-is. 

life; the Limit of OUT joy IS the Epicur. ap. Diog. Laert. x. 

, „ .. 31 al. 13'J. 

absence oj some degrees oj sorrow , 
and he that hath the least of this is the most prosper¬ 
ous person. Rut then we must look for prosperity 
not in palaces or courts of princes, not in tents 
of conquerors, or in the gayeties of fortunate and 
prevailing sinners ; but something rather in the 
cottages of honest, innocent, and contented persons, 
whose mind is no bigger than their fortune, nor 
their virtue less than their security. As for others, 
whose fortune looks bigger, and allures fools to 


46 


GENERAL CONSIDER A TIONS 


[Ch. I. 


follow it like the wandering fires of the night, till 
they run into rivers, or are broken upon rocks with 
staring and running after them, they are all in the 
condition of Marius, than whose condition nothing 

Qucm si inter miseros po- ">as more constant, and nothing 

more mutable. If we reckon them 
vai. Max. vi. 9.14. amongst the happy , they are the 

most happy men ■ if we reckon them amongst the 
miserable , they are the most miserable. For just as 
is a man’s condition, great or little, so is the state 
of his misery. All have their share ; but kings and 
princes, great generals and consuls, rich men and 
mighty, as they have the biggest business and the 
biggest charge, and are answerable to God for the 


greatest accounts, so they have the biggest trouble; 
that the uneasiness of their appendage may divide 
the good and evil of the world, making the poor 
man’s fortune as eligible as the greatest; and also 
restraining the vanity of man’s spirit, which a great 
fortune is apt to swell from a vapor to a bubble: 
but God in mercy hath mingled wormwood with 
their wine, and so restrained the drunkenness and 
follies of prosperity. 

7. Man never hath one day to himself of entire 
peace from the things of the world, but either some¬ 
thing troubles him, or nothing satisfies him, or his 
very fulness swells him and makes him breathe 
short upon his bed. Men’s joys are troublesome, 
and besides that, the fear of losing them takes away 
the present pleasure, and a man hath need of an- 


Sect. 5.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


47 


other felicity to preserve this; they are also waver¬ 
ing and full of trepidation, not only from their 
inconstant nature, but from their weak foundation: 
they arise from vanity, and they dwell upon ice, 
and they converse with the wind, and they have 
the wings of a bird, and are serious but as the reso¬ 
lutions of a child, commenced by chance and man¬ 
aged by folly; and proceed by inadvertency, and 
end in vanity and forgetfulness. So that, as Livius 

Drusus said of himself, he never uni.ibinecpuerounqimm 
had any play-days or days of ' ‘ Seditio " 

quiet when he ivas a hoy ; for he Seu * De /irev ' Vit c- § 2 - 
was troublesome and busy, a restless and unquiet 
man: the same may every man observe to be true 
of himself; he is always restless and uneasy, he 
dwells upon the waters, and leans upon thorns, and 
lays his head upon a sharp stone. 

Sect. V. — This Consideration reduced to Practice. 

1. ^ I MIE effect of this consideration is this, that 
I the sadnesses of this life help to sweeten 
the bitter cup of death. For let our life be never 
so long, if our strength were great as that of oxen 
and camels, if our sinews were strong as the cor¬ 
dage at the foot of an oak, if we were as fighting 
and prosperous people as Siccius 

r . Val. Max. iii. 2.24. 

Dentatus, who was on the pre¬ 
vailing side in an hundred and twenty battles, who 
had three hundred and twelve public rewards as- 


48 


GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 


[Cii. I. 


signed him by his generals and princes for his valor 
and conduct in sieges and short encounters, and, 
besides all this, had his share in nine triumphs; 
yet still the period shall be, that all this shall end 
in death, and the people shall talk of us awhile, 
good or bad, according as we deserve, or as they 
please; and once it shall come to pass that con¬ 
cerning every one of us it shall be toM in the 
neighborhood that we are dead. This we are apt 
to think a sad story; but therefore let us help it 
with a sadder. For we therefore need not be much 
troubled that we shall die, because we are not here 
in ease, nor do we dwell in a fair condition: but 
our days are full of sorrow and anguish, dishonored 
and made unhappy with many sins, with a frail and 
a foolish spirit, entangled with difficult cases of con¬ 
science, ensnared with passions, amazed with fears, 
full of cares, divided with curiosities and contradic¬ 
tory interests, made airy and impertinent with vani¬ 
ties, abused with ignorance and prodigious errors, 
made ridiculous with a thousand wickednesses, worn 
away with labors, loaden with diseases, daily vexed 
with dangers and temptations, and in love with 
misery; we are weakened with delights, afflicted 
with want, with the evils of myself and of all my 
family, and with the sadnesses of all my friends, 
and of all good men, even of the whole Church : 
and therefore methinks we need not be troubled 
that God is pleased to put an end to all these 
troubles, and to let them sit down in a natural 


Sect. 5.] PREPARATORY TO DEATU. 49 

period, which, if we please, may be to us the begin¬ 
ning of a better life. When the Prince of Persia 
wept because his army should all die in the revo¬ 
lution of an age, Artabanus told 

■ Herodot. vii. 4G. 

him that they should all meet 
with evils so many and so great, that every man 
of them should wish himself dead long before that. 
Indeed, it were a sad thing to be cut of the stone, 
and we that are in health tremble to think of it; 
but the man that is wearied with the disease looks 
upon that sharpness as upon his cure and remedy: 

and as none need to have a tooth drawn, so none 

» 

could well endure it but he that hath felt the pain 
of it in his head. So is our life so full of evils, that 
therefore death is no evil to them that have felt the 
smart of this, or hope for the joys of a better. 

2. But as it helps to ease a certain sorrow, as a 
fire draws out a fire, and a nail drives forth a nail, 
so it instructs us in a present duty, that is, that we 
should not be so fond of a perpetual storm, nor dote 
upon the transient gauds and gilded thorns of this 
world. They are not worth a passion, nor worth 
a sigh or a groan, not of the price of one night’s 
watching ; and therefore they are mistaken and 
miserable persons, who, since Adam planted thorns 
round about Paradise, are more in love with that 
hedge than all the fruits of the garden, sottish 
admirers of things that hurt them, of sweet poisons, 
gilded daggers, and silken halters. Tell them they 
have lost a bounteous friend, a rich purchase, a fair 
3 


D 


50 


GENERAL C ONSIDERA T1 ONS 


[Ch. I. 


farm, a wealthy donative, and you dissolve their 
patience; it is an evil bigger than their spirit can 
bear, it brings sickness and death, they can neither 
eat nor sleep with such a sorrow. But if you rep¬ 
resent to them the evils of a vicious habit, and the 
dangers of a state of sin ; if you tell them they 
have displeased God, and interrupted their hopes 
of heaven, it may be they will be so civil as to hear 
it patiently, and to treat you kindly, and first to 
commend, and then forget your story, because they 
prefer this world with all its sorrows before the 
pure unmingled felicities of heaven. But it is 
strange that any man should be so passionately in 
love with the thorns that grow on his own ground, 
that he should wear them for armlets, and knit them 
in his shirt, and prefer them before a kingdom and 
immortality. No man loves this world the better 
for his being poor; but men that love it because 
they have great possessions, love it because it is 
troublesome and chargeable, full of noise and temp¬ 
tation, because it is unsafe and ungoverned, flattered 
and abused: and he that considers the troubles of 
an over-long garment and of a crammed stomach, a 
trailing gown and a loaden table, may justly under¬ 
stand that all that for which men are so passionate 
is their hurt and their objection ; that which a tem¬ 
perate man would avoid, and a wise man cannot 
love. 

He that is no fool, but can consider wisely, if he 
be in love with this world, we need not despair but 


Sect. 5.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


51 


that a witty man might reconcile him with tortures, 
and make him think charitably of the rack, and 
be brought to dwell with vipers and dragons, and 
entertain his guests with the shrieks of mandrakes, 
cats and screech-owls; with the filing of iron, and 
the harshness of rending of silk; or to admire the 
harmony that is made by a herd of evening wolves, 
when they miss their draught of blood in their mid¬ 
night revels. The groans of a man in a fit of the 
stone are worse than all these ; and the distrac¬ 
tions of a troubled conscience are worse than those 
groans : and yet a merry careless sinner is worse 
than all that. But if we could from one of the 
battlements of heaven espy how many men and 
women at this time lie fainting and dying for want 
of bread, how many young men are hewn down by 
the sword of war, how many poor orphans are now 
weeping over the graves of their father, by whose 
life they were enabled to eat; if we could but hear 
how mariners and passengers'are at this present in 
a storm, and shriek out because their keel dashes 
against a rock or bulges under them, how many 
people there are that weep with want, and are mad 
with oppression, or are desperate by too quick a 
sense of a constant infelicity; in all reason we should 
be glad to be out of the noise and participation of 
so many evils. This is a place of sorrows and tears, 
of great evils and a constant calamity: let us re¬ 
move from hence, at least in affections and prepara¬ 
tion of mind. 



CHAPTER II. 


A GENERAL PREPARATION TOWARDS A HOLY AND BLESSED 
DEATH, BY WAY OF EXERCISE. 

Sect. I. — Three Precepts preparatory to a holy 
* Death , to he practised in our whole Life. 

1. T_T E that woidd die well must always look for 
I lL death , every day knocking at the gates of the 

Propera vivere, et singulos grave , <111(1 tllGll tllC gates of tllC 

"nitdrrrott g>™ shall never 1 ,revail upon 

culum. Sen. Ep. ci. 9, 10. J 1 j m t } Q ]jJ m m iscllief. This 

was the advice of all the wise and good men of the 
world, who especially in the days and periods of 
their joy and festival egressions chose to throw 

some ashes into their chalices, 

Si sapis, utaris totis, Coline, 

diebus: some sober remembrances of 

Extremumque tibi semper 

adesse putes. their fatal period. Such was 

Mart. Ei ig. iv. oi. 3. black shirt of Saladine ; the 

tombstone presented to the emperor of Constanti¬ 
nople on his coronation-day; the bishop of Rome’s 
two reeds with llax and a wax-taper; the Egyptian 
TT , .. skeleton served up at feasts;* 

and Trimalcion’s banquet in Pe- 
tronius, in which was brought in the image of a 



Sect. 1.] PREPARATORY TO DEATil. 


53 


dead man’s bones of silver, with spondyls exactly 
turning to every of the guests, and saying to every 
one, that you and you must die, 

^ Heu.heu.nosmiseroslquam 

and look not one upon another, totus homuncio nil estt 

_ Sic e ” mus cuncti postquam 

tor every one is equally con- nosauferetorcus; 

, . . Ergo vivamus, dum licet esse 

cerned m this sad represent- bene. 

rp,, . „ ,. Petron. Sat. c. 34. 

ment. lliese in fantastic sem¬ 
blances declare a severe counsel and useful medita¬ 
tion ; and it is not easy for a man to be gay in his 
imagination, or to be drunk with joy or wine, pride 
or revenge, who considers sadly that he must ere¬ 
long dwell in a house of darkness and dishonor, 
and his body must be the inheritance of worms, and 
his soul must be what he pleases, even as a man 
makes it here by his living good or bad. I have 
read of a young eremite, who, being passionately 
in love with a young lady, could not by all the arts 
of religion and mortification suppress the trouble 
of that fancy; till at last being told that she was 
dead, and had been buried about fourteen days, he 
went secretly to her vault, and with the skirt of his 
mantle wiped the moisture from the carcass, and 
still at the return of his temptation laid it before 
him, saying, Behold , this is the beauty of the woman 
thou didst so much desire: and so the man found 
his cure. And if we make death as present to us, 
our own death, dwelling and dressed in all its pomp 
of fancy and proper circumstances ; if anything will 
quench the heats of lust, or the desires of money, 
or the greedy passionate affections of this world, 


54 


GENERAL EXERCISES 


[Cii. II. 


-Certe populi qucs de- 

spicit Arctos 

Felices errore suo, quos ille 
tiinorum 

Maximus hand urget, let! 

metus; inde ruendi 
In ferrum mens prona viris, 
animasque capaces 
Mortis, et ignavum rediturae 
parcere vitae. 

Lucan, i. 458. 


this must do it. But withal, the frequent use of 
this meditation, by curing our present inordinations, 
will make death safe and friendly, and by its very 
custom will make that the king of terrors shall 
come to us without his affrighting dresses ; and that 
we shall sit down in the grave as we compose our¬ 
selves to sleep, and do the duties of nature and 

choice. The old people that 
lived near the Riphiean moun¬ 
tains were taught to converse 
with death and to handle it on 
all sides, and to discourse of it 
as of a thing that will certain¬ 
ly come, and ought so to do. 
Thence their minds and resolutions became capable 
of death, and they thought it a dishonorable thing 
with greediness to keep a life that must go from 
us to lay aside its thorns, and to return again 
circled with a glory and a diadem. 

2. He that would die well must all the days of his 
life lay up against the day of death ; not only by the 
Quiquotidievitasusesum- general piovisions of holiness, 
"°“ and a pious life indefinitely, but 
Sen. Ep. ci. 8. provisions proper to the neces¬ 
sities of that great day of expense, in which a man 
is to throw his last cast for an eternity of joys or 
sorrows : ever remembering that this alone well 
performed is not enough to pass us into Paradise, 
but that alone done foolishly is enough to send us 
into hell, and the want of either a holy life or death 



Sect. 1.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


55 


makes a man to fall short of the mighty price of 
our high calling. In order to 

^ Insere nunc, Meliboee, py- 

this rule we are to consider what ros, pone ordine vites. 
special graces we shall then need 
to exercise, and by the proper arts of the spirit, by 
a heap of proportioned arguments, by prayers, and 
a great treasure of devotion laid up in heaven, pro¬ 
vide beforehand a reserve of strength and mercy. 
Men in the course of their lives walk lazily and 
incuriously, as if they had both their feet in one 
shoe; and when they are passively resolved to the 
time of their dissolution, they have no mercies in 
store, no patience, no faith, no charity to God or 
despite of the world, being without gust or appetite 
for the land of their inheritance, which Christ with 
so much pain and blood hath purchased for them. 
When we come to die indeed, we shall be very 
much put to it to stand firm upon the two feet of a 
Christian faith and patience. When we ourselves 
are to use the articles, to turn our former discourses 
into present practice, and to feel what we never felt 
before, we shall find it to be quite another thing to 
be willing presently to quit this life and all our 
present possessions for the hopes of a thing which 
we were never suffered to see, and such a thing of 
which we may fail so many ways, and of which if 
we fail any way we are miserable for ever. Then 
we shall find how much we have need to have 
secured the Spirit of God and the grace of faith 
by an habitual, perfect, unmovable resolution. The 



5G 


GENERAL EXERCISES 


[Ch. II. 


same is also the case of patience, which will be 
assaulted with sharp pains, disturbed fancies, great 
fears, want of a present mind, natural weaknesses, 
frauds of the Devil, and a thousand accidents and 
imperfections. It concerns us therefore highly, in 
the whole course of our lives not only to accus¬ 
tom ourselves to a patient suffering of injuries and 
affronts, of persecutions and losses, of cross acci¬ 
dents and unnecessary circumstances, but also by 
representing death as present to us, to consider with 
what argument then to fortify our patience, and by 
assiduous and fervent prayer to God all our life 
long to call upon him to give us patience and great 
assistances, a strong faith and a confirmed hope, 
the Spirit of God and his holy angels, assistants at 
that time, to resist and to subdue the Devil’s temp¬ 
tations and assaults, and so to fortify our heart, that 
it break not into intolerable sorrows and impatience, 
and end in wretchedness and infidelity. But this 
is to be the work of our life, and not to be done at 
once ; but, as God gives us time, by succession, by 
parts and little periods. For it is very remarkable 
that God, who giveth plenteously to all creatures, 
— he hath scattered the firmament with stars, as a 
man sows corn in his fields, in a multitude bisrser 
than the capacities of human order; he hath made 
so much variety of creatures, and gives us great 
choice of meats and drinks, although any one of 
both kinds would have served our needs ; and so 
in all instances of nature : — yet in the distribution 


Sect. 1.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 57 

of our time God seems to be strait-handed, and 
gives it to us, not as nature gives us rivers, enough 
to drown us, but drop by drop, minute after minute, 
so that we can never have two minutes together, 
but he takes away one when he gives us another. 
This should teach us to value our time, since God 
so values it, and by his so small distribution of it 
tells us it is the most precious thing we have. Since 
therefore in the day of our death we can have still 
but the same little portion of this precious time, let 
us in every minute of our life, I mean in every dis¬ 
cernible portion, lay up such a stock of reason and 
good works, that they may convey a value to the 
imperfect and shorter actions of our death-bed; 
while God rewards the piety of our lives by his 
gracious acceptation and benediction upon the ac¬ 
tions preparatory to our death-bed. 

3. He that desires to die well and happily, above 
all things must be careful that he do not live a soft, a 
delicate, and a voluptuous life, but a life severe, holy, 
and under the discipline of the cross; under the 
conduct of prudence and observation ; a life of war¬ 
fare and sober counsels, labor and watchfulness. 
No man wants cause of tears and a daily sorrow. 
Let every man consider what he feels, and acknowl¬ 
edge his misery ; let him confess his sin, and chas¬ 
tise it; let him bear his cross patiently, and his ' 
persecutions nobly, and his repentances willingly 
and constantly; let him pity the evils of all the 
world, and bear his share in the calamities of his 
3* 





58 


GENERAL EXERCISES 


[Ch. II. 


brother; let him long and sigh for the joys of 
heaven ; let him tremble and fear because he hath 
deserved the pains of hell; let him commute his 
eternal fear with a temporal suffering, preventing 
God’s judgment by passing one of his own ; let 
him groan for the labors of his pilgrimage, and the 
dangers of his warfare : and by that time he hath 


Chap. 4.9. 


* Med. Vit. Christi, c. 3. 


summed up all these labors, and duties, and con¬ 
tingencies, all the proper causes, instruments, and 
acts of sorrow, he will find that for a secular joy 
and wantonness of spirit there are not left many 

void spaces of his life. It was 
St. James’s advice, Be afflicted, 
and mourn , and weep ; let your laughter he turned 
into mourning , and your joy into weeping; and 

Bonaventure,* in the Life of 
Christ, reports that the holy 
Virgin-mother said to Saint Elizabeth, that grace 
does not descend into the sold of a man hut hy prayer 
Ncquc enim Dcus uiia re and affliction. Certain it is 
::^n:S;r 0rpori8fCrum ‘ that a mourning spirit and an 
Greg. Naz. Orat. xxiv. ii. afflicted body are great instru¬ 
ments of reconciling God to a sinner, and they 
always dwell at the gates of atonement and resti¬ 
tution. But besides this, a delicate and prosperous 
life is hugely contrary to the hopes of a blessed 

eternity. Woe he to them that 
are at \ease in Sion , so it was 
said of old: and our blessed Lord said, Woe he to 
you that laugh , for ye shall weep ; but blessed are 


Amos 6.1. 

Luke 6. 25. Matt. 5. 4. 


Sect. 1.] 


PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


59 


they that mourn, for they shall he comforted. Here 
or hereafter we must have our portion of sorrows. 
He that now qoeth on his wan 

f ° Psalm 12G. 6. 

weeping, and beareth forth good 
seed with him, shall doubtless come again with joy, 
and bring his sheaves with him. And certainly he 
that sadly considers the portion of Dives, and re¬ 
members that the account which Abraham gave 
him for the unavoidableness of his torment was, 
because he had his good things in this life, must in 
all reason with trembling run from a course of ban¬ 


quets, and faring deliciously every day, as being a 
dangerous estate, and a consignation to an evil 
greater than all danger, the pains and torments 
of unhappy souls. If either by patience or repent¬ 
ance, by compassion or persecution, by choice or 
by conformity, by severity or discipline we allay 
the festival follies of a soft life, and profess under 
the cross of Christ, we shall more 
willingly and more safely enter 
into our grave; but the death¬ 
bed of a voluptuous man up¬ 
braids his little and cozening 
prosperities, and exacts pains made sharper by the 
passing from soft beds and a softer mind. He that 
would die holily and happily, must in this world love 
tears, humility, solitude, and repentance. 


-Sed longi poenas fortu- 

nas favoris 

Exigit a misero, quaj tanto 
pondere famaj 
Res premit adversas, fatisque 
prioribus urget. 

Lucan, viii. 21. 







60 


GENERAL EXERCISES 


[Cii. II. 


Sect. II. — Of daily Examination of our Actions 
in the whole course of our Health , 'preparatory to 
our Death-bed. 

E that will die well and happily must dress 



i f his soul by a diligent and frequent scrutiny : 
he must perfectly understand and watch the state 
of his soul; he must set his house in order before 
he be fit to die. And for this there is great reason, 
and great necessity. 

Reasons for a daily Examination . 

1. For, if we consider the disorders of every day, 
the multitude of impertinent words, the great por¬ 
tions of time spent in vanity, the daily omissions 
of duty, the coldness of our prayers, the indiffer¬ 
ences of our spirit in holy things, the uncertainty 
of our secret purposes, our infinite deceptions and 
hypocrisies, sometimes not known, very often not 
observed by ourselves, our want of charity, our not 
knowing in how many degrees of action and pur¬ 
pose every virtue is to be exercised, the secret 
adherences of pride, and too forward complacency 
in our best actions, our failings in all our relations, 
the niceties of difference between some virtues and 
some vices, the secret undiscernible passages from 
lawful to unlawful in the first instances of change, 
the perpetual mistakings of permissions for duty, 
and licentious practices for permissions, our daily 



Sect. 2.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


61 


abusing the liberty that God gives us, our unsus¬ 
pected sins in the managing a course of life cer¬ 
tainly lawful, our little greedinesses in eating, our 
surprises in the proportions of our drinkings, our 
too great freedoms and fondnesses in lawful loves, 
our aptness for things sensual, and our deadness 
and tediousness of spirit in spiritual employments, 
besides infinite variety of cases of conscience that 
do occur in the life of every man, and in all inter¬ 
courses of every life, and that the productions of 
sin are numerous and increasing, like the families 
of the Northern people, or the genealogies of the 
first patriarchs of the world ; from all this we shall 
find that the computations of a man’s life are busy 
as the tables of signs and tangents, and intricate as 
the accounts of Eastern merchants ; and therefore 
it were but reason we should sum up our accounts 
at the foot of every page : I mean, that we call 
ourselves to scrutiny every night when we compose 
ourselves to the little images of death. 

2. For, if we make but one general account, and 
never reckon till we die, either we shall only reckon 
by great sums, and remember nothing but clamor¬ 
ous and crying sins, and never consider concerning 
particulars, or forget very many: or if we could 
consider «all that we ought, we must needs be con¬ 
founded with the multitude and variety. But if we 
observe all the little passages of our life, and reduce 
them into the order of accounts and accusations, we 
shall find them multiply so fast, that it will not only 





G2 


GENERAL EXERCISES 


[Cii. II. 


appear to be an ease to the accounts of our death¬ 
bed, but by the instrument of shame will restrain 
the inundation of evils ; it being a thing intolerable 
to human modesty to see sins increase so fast, and 
virtues grow up so slow ; to see every day stained 
with the spots of leprosy, or sprinkled with the 
marks of a lesser evil. 

3. It is not intended we should take accounts of 
our lives only to be thought religious, but that we 
may see our evil and amend it, that we dash our 
sins against the stones, that we may go to God, and 
to a spiritual guide, and search for remedies and 
apply them. And indeed no man can well observe 
his own growth in grace but by accounting seldomer 
returns of sin, and a more frequent victory over 
temptations; concerning which every man makes 
his observations according as he makes his inquiries 
and search after himself. In order to this it was 
that St. Paul wrote before the receiving the holy 
sacrament, Let a man examine himself \ and so let 
him eat. This precept was given in those days 
when they communicated every day, and therefore 
a daily examination also was intended. 

4. And it will appear highly fitting if we remem¬ 
ber that at the day of judgment not only the greatest 
lines of life, but every branch and circumstance of 
every action, every word and thought shall be called 
to scrutiny and severe judgment: insomuch that it 

was a great truth which one said, 

S. Aug. Conf. Lx. 13. ° _ 7 

Woe he to the most innocent life , 


Sect. 2.] 


PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


G3 


if God should search into it without mixtures of 
mercy. And therefore we are here to follow St. 
Paul’s advice, Judge yourselves , and ye shall not he 
judged of the Lord. The way to prevent God’s 
anger is to be angry with ourselves; and by exam¬ 
ining our actions, and condemning the criminal, by 
being assessors in God’s tribunal, at least we shall 
obtain the favor of the court. As therefore every 
night we must make our bed the memorial of our 
grave , so let our evening thoughts he an image of the 
day of judgment. 

5. This advice was so reasonable and proper an 
instrument of virtue, that it was taught even to the 
scholars of Pythagoras by their master: “ Let not 
sleep seize upon the regions of 

1 1 Aur. Carm. 40. 

your senses before you have three 
times recalled the conversation and accidents of the 
clay.” Examine what you have committed against 
the divine law, what you have omitted of your 
duty, and in what you have made use of the divine 
grace to the purposes of virtue and religion ; join- 
ing the judge reason to the legislative mind or con¬ 
science, that God may reign there as a lawgiver 
and a judge. Then Christ’s kingdom is set up in 
our hearts ; then we always live in the eye of our 
Judge, and live by the measures of reason, religion, 
and sober counsels. 

The benefits we shall receive by practising this 
advice in order to a blessed death will also add to 
the account of reason and fair inducements. 



G4 


GENERAL EXERCISES 


[Ch. II. 


The Bene jits of this Exercise. 

1. By a daily examination of our actions we shall 
the easier cure a great sin, and prevent its arrival 
to become habitual. For to examine we suppose to 
be a relative duty, and instrumental to something 
else. We examine ourselves that we may find out 
our failings and cure them ; and therefore if we use 
our remedy when the wound is fresh and bleeding, 
we shall find the cure more certain and less pain¬ 
ful. For so a taper, when its crown of flame is 
newly blown off, retains a nature so symbolical to 
light, that it will with greediness re-enkindle and 
snatch a ray from the neighbor fire. So is the 
soul of man when it is newly fallen into sin; al¬ 
though God be angry with it, and the state of 
God’s favor and its own graciousness is interrupted, 
yet the habit is not naturally changed ; and still 
God leaves some roots of virtue standing, and the 
man is modest, or apt to be made ashamed, and he 
is not grown a bold sinner. But if he sleeps on it, 
and returns again to the same sin, ami by degrees 
grows in love with it, and gets the custom, and the 
strangeness of it is taken away, then it is his mas¬ 
ter, and is swelled into a heap, and is abetted by 
use, and corroborated by newly entertained princi¬ 
ples, and is insinuated into his nature, and hath 
possessed his affections, and tainted the will and 
understanding: and by this time a man is in the 
state of a decaying merchant, his accounts are so 


Sect. 2.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


65 


great, and so intricate, and so much in arrear, that 
to examine it will be but to represent the particu¬ 
lars of his calamity; therefore they think it better 
to pull the napkin before their eyes than to stare 
upon the circumstances of their death. 

2. A daily or frequent examination of the parts 
of our life will interrupt the proceeding, and hinder 
the journey of little sins into a heap. For many 
days do not pass the best persons, in which they 
have not many idle words or vainer thoughts to 
sully the fair whiteness of their souls; some indis¬ 
creet passions or trifling purposes, some imperti¬ 
nent discontents or unhandsome usages to their own 
persons, or their dearest relatives. And though 
God is not extreme to mark what is done amiss , and 
therefore puts these upon the accounts of his mercy, 
and the title of the cross; yet in two cases these 
little sins combine and cluster, and we know that 
grapes were once in so great a bunch, that one 
cluster was the load of two men; that is, 1. When 
either we are in love with small sins; or, 2. When 
they proceed from a careless and incurious spirit 
into frequency and continuance. For so the small¬ 
est atoms that dance in all the little cells of the 
world are so trifling and immaterial, that they can¬ 
not trouble an eye, nor vex the tenderest part of a 
wound, where a barbed arrow dwelt; yet, when by 
their infinite numbers (as Melissa [Melissus] and 
Parmenides affirm) they danced first into order, 
then into little bodies, at last they made the matter 


E 






66 


GENERAL EXERCISES 


[Ch. II. 


of the world. So are the little indiscretions of our 
life; they are always inconsiderable , if they be con¬ 
sidered; and contemptible , if they be not despised; 
and God does not regard them , if ice do. We may 
easily keep them asunder by our daily or nightly 
thoughts, and prayers, and severe sentences: but 
even the least sand can check the tumultuous pride, 
and become a limit to the sea, when it is in a heap 
and in united multitudes; but if the wind scatter 
and divide them, the little drops and the vainer 
froth of the water begins to invade the strand. 
Our sighs can scatter such little offences; but then 
be sure to breathe such accents frequently, lest they 

knot and combine, and grow big 

Ecclus. 19.1. . 7 . 

as the shore, and we perish in 
sand , in trifling instances. He that despiseth little 
things shall perish by little and little ; so said the 
son of Sirach. 

3. A frequent examination of our actions will 
intenerate and soften our consciences, so that they 
shall be impatient of any rudeness or heavier load. 

Quilevicomminationepel- And lie that IS Used to sllllllk 

when he is pressed with a 

See Sen. De Prov. c. 3. b ranc h 0 f twinillg Osier, will 

not willingly stand in the ruins of a house when 
the beam dashes upon the pavement. And pro¬ 
vided that our nice and tender spirit be not vexed 
into scruple, nor the scruple turned into unreason¬ 
able fears, nor the fears into superstition; he that 
by any arts can make his spirit tender and apt for 


Sect. 2.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. G7 

religious impressions hath made the fairest seat 
for religion, and the unaptest and uneasiest enter¬ 
tainment for sin and eternal death in the whole 
world. 

4. A frequent examination of the smallest parts 
of our lives is the best instrument to make our re¬ 
pentance particular, and a fit remedy to all the 
members of the whole body of sin. For our ex¬ 
amination put oft to our death-bed, of necessity 
brings us into this condition, that very many thou¬ 
sands of our sins must be (or not be at all) washed 
off with a general repentance, which the more gen¬ 
eral and definite it is, it is ever so much the worse. 
And if he that repents the longest and the oftenest, 
and upon the most instances, is still during his 
whole life but an imperfect penitent, and there are 
very many reserves left to be wiped off by God’s 
mercies, and to be eased by collateral assistances, 
or to be groaned for at the terrible day of judg¬ 
ment ; it will be but a sad story to consider, that 
the sins of a whole life, or of very great portions of 
it, shall be put upon the remedy of one examina¬ 
tion, and the advices of one discourse, and the ac¬ 
tivities of a decayed body, and a weak and an 
amazed spirit. Let us do the best we can, we shall 
find that the mere sins of ignorance and unavoid¬ 
able forgetfulness will be enough to he intrusted to 
such a bank ; and that if a general repentance will 
serve towards their expiation, it will be an infinite 
mercy: but we have nothing to warrant our con- 


68 


GENERAL EXERCISES 


[Ch. II. 


fidence, if we shall think it to be enough on our 
death-bed to confess the notorious actions of our 
lives, and to say, The Lord be merciful to me for 
the infinite transgression* of my life , which I have 
wilfully or carelessly forgot; for very many of which 
the repentance, the distinct, particular circumstan¬ 
tiate repentance of a whole life would have been 
too little, if we could have done more. 

5. After the enumeration of these advantages I 
shall not need to add, that if we decline or refuse 
to call ourselves frequently to account, and to use 
daily advices concerning the state of our souls, it is 
a very ill sign that our souls are not right with 
God, or that they do not dwell in religion. But 
this I shall say, that they who do use this exercise 
frequently will make their conscience much at ease 
by casting out a daily load of humor and surfeit, 
the matter of diseases and instruments of death. 
He that does not frequently search his conscience is a 
house without a window , and like a wild untutored 
son of a fond and undiscerning widow. 

But if this exercise seem too great a trouble, and 
that by such advices religion will seem a burden, I 
have two things to oppose against it. 

1. One is, that we had better bear the burden 
of the Lord than the burden of a base and polluted 
conscience. Religion cannot be so great a trouble 
as a guilty soul: and whatsoever trouble can be 
fancied in this or any other action of religion, 
it is only to inexperienced persons. It may be a 


Sect. 2.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


69 


trouble at first, just as is every change and every 


new accident: but if you do it E , ige vlttm optim , m . con . 

frequently, and accustom your ,u t^fs™ riTSilT' 
spirit to it, as the custom will p,G02b -J 

make it easy, so the advantages will make it de¬ 
lectable ; that will make it facile as nature, these 
will make it as pleasant and eligible as reward. 

2. The other thing I have to say is this : that to 
examine our lives will be no trouble if we do not 
intricate it with businesses of the world and the 

labyrinths of caie and impel ti- Securne et quictae mentis cst 

ncrit affairs A man had nppd in 01111168 vitae partes discur_ 
nent djiairs. man naa neeu rcre; occupatorum animi veiut 

have a quiet and disentangled sub<iugo sunt; • • • res P icere 

^ £5 non possunt. 


life who comes to search into sen. De Brev. va.c. 10. § 4 . 

all his actions, and to make judgment concerning 
his errors and his needs, his remedies and his 
hopes. They that have great intrigues of the world 
have a yoke upon their necks and cannot look back. 
And he that covets many things greedily, and 
snatches at high things ambitiously, that despises 
his neighbor proudly, and bears his crosses peev¬ 
ishly, or his prosj^erity impotently and passionately; 
he that is prodigal of his precious time, and is tena¬ 
cious and retentive of evil purposes, is not a man 
disposed to this exercise: he hath reason to be 
afraid of his own memory, and to dash his glass in 
pieces, because it must needs represent to his own 
eyes an intolerable deformity. He therefore that 
resolves to live well whatsoever it costs him, he 
that will go to heaven at any rate, shall best tend 


70 


GENERAL EXERCISES 


[Ch. II. 


this duty by neglecting the affairs of the world in 
all things where prudently he may. But if we do 
otherwise, we shall find that the accounts of our 
death-bed and the examination made by a disturbed 
understanding will be very empty of comfort, and 
full of inconveniences. 

6. For hence it comes that men die so timorously 
and uncomfortably, as if they were forced out of 
their lives by the violences of an executioner. 
Then, without much examination, they remember 
how wickedly they have lived, without religion, 
against the laws of the covenant of grace, without 
Godin the world: then they see sin goes off like 
an amazed, wounded, affrighted person from a lost 
battle, without honor, without a veil, with nothing 
but shame and sad remembrances: then they can 
consider, that if they had lived virtuously, all the 
trouble and objection of that would now be past, 
and all that had remained should be peace and joy, 
and all that good which dwells within the house of 
God, and eternal life. But now they find they 
have done amiss and dealt wickedly; they have no 
bank of good works, but a huge treasure of wrath, 
and they are going to a strange place, and what 
shall be their lot is uncertain ; so they say, when 
they would comfort and flatter themselves: but in 
truth of religion their portion is sad and intolerable, 
without hope and without refreshment, and they 
must use little silly arts to make them go off from 
their stage of sins with some handsome circumstances 


Sect. 2.] PREPARA TOR Y TO DEA TIL 


71 


of opinion: they will in civility be abused that they 
may die quietly, and go decently to their execution, 
and leave their friends indifferently contented, and 
apt to be comforted; and by that time they are 
gone awhile, they see that they deceived themselves 
all their days, and were by others deceived at last. 

Let us make it our own case: we shall come to 
that state and period of condition in which we shall 
be infinitely comforted, if we have lived well; or 
else be amazed and go off trembling, because we 
are guilty of heaps of unrepented and unforsaken 
sins. It may happen we shall not then understand 
it so, because most men of late ages have been 
abused with false principles, and they are taught 
(or they are willing to believe) that a little thing is 
enough to save them, and that heaven is so cheap a 
purchase, that it will fall upon them whether they 
will or no. The misery of it is, they w ill not suffer 
themselves to be confuted, till it be too late to re¬ 
cant their error. In the interim, they are impatient 
to be examined, as a leper is of a comb, and are 
greedy of the world, as children of raw fruit; and 
they hate a severe reproof, as they do thorns in 
their bed ; and they love to lay aside religion, as a 
drunken person does to forget his sorrow ; and all 
the w r ay they dream of fine things, and their dreams 
prove contrary, and become the hieroglyphics of an 
eternal sorrow. The daughter 

~ Herodot. iii. 124. 

of Polycrates dreamed that her 

father was lifted up, and that Jupiter washed him, 




72 


GENERAL EXERCISES 


[Ch. II. 


and the sun anointed him; but it proved to him 
but a sad prosperity: for after a long life of con¬ 
stant prosperous successes he was surprised by his 
enemies, and hanged up till the dew of heaven wet 
his cheeks, and the sun melted his grease. Such 
is the condition of those persons who, living either 
in the despite or in the neglect of religion, lie wal¬ 
lowing in the drunkenness of prosperity or worldly 
cares: they think themselves to be exalted till the 
evil day overtakes them; and then they can ex¬ 
pound their dream of life to end in a sad and 
hopeless death. I remember that Cleomenes was 

called a g;od by the Egyptians, 

Hut. Cleom. c. 39. ° f J1 

because when he was hanged a 
serpent grew out of his body, and wrapt itself about 
his head; till the philosophers of Egypt said it was 
natural that from the marrow of some bodies such 
productions should arise. And indeed it represents 
the condition of some men, who being dead are 
esteemed saints and beatified persons, when their 
head is encircled with dragons, and is entered into 
the possession of the Devil, that old serpent and 
deceiver. For indeed their life was secretly so 
corrupted, that such serpents fed upon the ruins 
of the spirit, and the decays of grace and reason. 
To be cozened in making judgments concerning 
our final condition is extremely easy; but if we 
be cozened, we are infinitely miserable. 


Sect. 3.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


73 


Sect. III. — Of exercising Charity during our whole 

Life . 


H E that would die well and happily must in 
his lifetime according to all his capacities 
exercise charity ; and because religion is the life 
of the soul, and charity is the Rcs „ icc qnid prlB . 
life of religion, the same which oSSSSSETU- 
gives life to the better part of teramareDcum * 
man which never dies, may obtain of God a mercy 
to the inferior part of man in the day of its disso¬ 
lution. 

1. Charity is the great channel through which 
God passes all his mercy upon mankind. For 
we receive absolution of our sins in proportion to 
our forgiving our brother. This is the rule of our 
hopes, and the measure of our desire in this world ; 
and in the day of death and judgment the great 
sentence upon mankind shall be transacted accord¬ 
ing to our alms, which is the other part of charity. 

Cei tain it is that God Cannot, Quod expendi habui, 

will not, never did reject a char- JgJ* 

itable man in his greatest needs Quodservaviperdidi.* 

and in his most passionate prayers; for God him¬ 
self is love, and every degree of charity that dwells 
in us is the participation of the divine nature: and 
therefore when upon our death-bed a cloud covers 
our head, and we are enwrapped with sorrow; 


* “ These were common epitaphs formerly 5 see Weever’s Funeral Monuments, 
pp. 401, 748 ; 581, 607.” - Eden. 

4 


74 


GENERAL EXERCISES 


[Ch. II. 


when we feel the weight of a sickness, and do not 
feel the refreshing visitations of God’s loving-kind¬ 
ness; when we have many things to trouble us, 
and looking round about us we see no comforter; 
then call to mind what injuries you have forgiven, 
how apt you were to pardon all affronts and real 
persecutions, how you embraced peace when it was 
offered you, how you followed after peace when it 
ran from you : and when you are weary of one side 
turn upon the other, and remember the alms that 
by the grace of God and his assistances you have 
done, and look up to God, and with the eye of faith 
behold his coming in the cloud, and pronouncing 
the sentence of doomsday according to his mercies 
and thy charity. 

2. Charity w r ith its twin-daughters, alms and for¬ 
giveness, is especially effectual for the procuring 

God’s mercies in the day and 

Tob. 4.10, & 12. 9. Ecclus. J 

3.3o. Dan. 4. 27. i ret.4.8. the manner of our death. Alms 

deliver from death , said old To¬ 
bias ; and Alms make an atonement for sins, said 
the son of Sirach: and so said Daniel, and so say 
all the wise men of the world. And in this sense 
also is that of St. Peter, Love covers a multitude of 
* Lib. vii. c. 12. ’Eat> sins ; and* St. Clement in his 
** eis Sia to>»/ xeipaH' aov, (Constitutions gives this counsel: 

005, tva epyaarj €15 An- 0 

rpcoori' a/xapria>i/ crov • If you have anything in your 

iXeYipLOo-vvcus yap teal 7 7 . . 7 . 7 

7 r Lareatv anoKaGaipovTai hCiTidS^ CjlVS it , that it lUCty WOV/C 

afxapriaL. f Q fj ie rem i SS i on 0 f (fry sin S . Foi' 

by faith and alms sins are purged. The same also 


Sect. 3 .] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 75 

is the counsel of Salvian, who wonders that men 
who are guilty of great and 

. Aclv. Avar. Lib. ii. 

many sms will not work out 
their pardon by alms and mercy. But this also 
must be added out of the words of Lactantius, who 
makes this rule complete and useful: “ But think 
not , because sins are taken away by alms, that by thy 
money thou mayest purchase a license to sin. For 
sins are abolished, if because thou hast sinned thou 
givest to God, that is, to God’s poor servants, and 
his indigent necessitous creatures: but if thou sin- 
nest upon confidence of giving , thy sins are not 
abolished. For God desires infinitely that men 
should be purged from their 

1 c Agere autem poenitentiam 

sins, and therefore commands mwi aiiud est q Uam profiteri 

et affirmare se non ulterius 

us to repent. But to repent peccaturum. 

. Lact. Inst. vi. 13. 

is nothing else but to profess 

and affirm (that is, to purpose, and to make good 

that purpose) that they will sin no more.” 

Now alms are therefore effective to the abolition 
and pardon of our sins, because they are prepara¬ 
tory to, and impetratory of, the grace of repentance, 
and are fruits of repentance : 

* De Poenit. Horn. vii. 6. 

and therefore * St. Chrysostom 
affirms, that repentance without alms is dead, and 
without wings, and can never soar upwards to the 
element of love. But because they are a part of 
repentance, and hugely pleasing to Almighty God, 
therefore they deliver us from the evils of an un¬ 
happy and accursed death: for so Christ delivered 


76 


GENERAL EXERCISES 


[Ch. II. 


Luke 16.9. 


liis disciples from the sea, when lie appeased the 
storm, though they still sailed in the channel. And 
this St. Hierome verifies with all his reading and 
Nunquam mcmini me le- experience, saying, I do not re - 

gisse mala morte mortuum, mem }j er f Q ] ( ave read that ever 
qui libenter opera chantatis 

exercuit. — Ad A’cpot. an y c ] iar it a Jjj e per son died an 
evil death. And although a long experience hath 
observed God’s mercies to descend upon charitable 
people, like the dew upon Gideon’s fleece when 
all the world was dry, yet for this also we have 
a promise, which is not only an argument of a 
certain number of years, as experience is, but a 
security for eternal ages. Make ye friends of the 

mammon of unrighteousness, that 
when ye fail, they may receive 
you into everlasting habitations. When faith fails, 
and chastity is useless, and temperance shall be no 
more, then charity shall bear you upon wings of 
cherubim to the eternal mountain of the Lord. I 

have been a lover of mankind, 
and a friend and merciful; and 
now I expect to communicate 
in that great kindness which he 
shoivs that is the great God and Father of men 
and mercies, said Cyrus the Persian on his death¬ 
bed. 

I do not mean this should only be a death-bed 
charity, any more than a death-bed repentance; but 
it ought to be the charity of our life and healthful 
years, a parting with portions of our goods then 


’E-ytb (/>iA<xv0pa>7ro? iyei’o- 
jaijv, Kal vvv l^Secos av 
fiOL 8 oko > KOLvaivricraL tov 
evepyerouvTOS av0pw7rous. 

Xen. Cyrop. viii. 7. 25. 


Sect. 4.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


77 


when we can keep them. We must not first kindle 
our lights when we are to de- Da dum tempu8 habcs , tib i 

scend into rrnr houses of dirk- propria sit manus heres. 
set IHl HILO OUl nouses OI uaiiv Auferet hoc nemo quod dabis 

ness, or bring a glaring torch ipse Deo ’* 

suddenly to a dark room ; that will amaze the eye, 

and not delight it, or instruct the body : but if our 

tapers have, in their constant course, descended into 

their grave crowned all the way with light, then 

let the death-bed charity be doubled, and the light 

burn brightest when it is to deck our hearse. But 

concerning this I shall afterwards give account. 


Sect. IV. — General Considerations to enforce the 

former Practices. 


T HESE are the general instruments of prep¬ 
aration in order to a holy death: it will 
concern us all to use them diligently and speedily ; 
for We must he long in doing Quod saepefieri non potest 
that which must he done hut once; fiat dm '~ Se "‘ <Ed ' v ' ,J4,si ' 


and therefore we must begin betimes, and lose no 


time ; especially since it is so 
great a venture, and upon it de¬ 
pends so great a state. Seneca 
said well, There is no science or 
art in the world so hard as to live 
and die well; the professors of 
other arts are vulgar and many ; 


Nullius rei quam vivere 
diflicilior cst scicntia: pro- 
fessores aliarum artium vul- 
go multique sunt. 

Sen. De Brev. Vit. c. 6. 

Nunc ratio nulla est res- 
tandi, nulla facultas, jEter- 
nas quoniam pcenas in morte 
timendum. — Lucret. i. 112. 

Virtutem videant, intabes- 
Cantque relicta. 

Pers. Sat. iii. 38. 


* These lines are found in the Cotton MS. of Gower’s Vox Clamantis. See 
the note in Eden’s edition of Taylor’s Works. Compare Weevcr’s Funeral 
Monuments, p. 19. 


GENERAL EXERCISES 


[Ch. II. 


rj o 

( O 

but he that knows h'ow to do this business is cer¬ 
tainly instructed to eternity. But then let me 
remember this, that a wise person will also put 
most upon the greatest interest. Common pru¬ 
dence will teach us this. No man will hire a gen¬ 
eral to cut wood, or shake hay with a sceptre, or 
spend his soul and all his faculties upon the pur¬ 
chase of a cockle-shell; but he will fit instruments 
to the dignity and exigence of the design. And 
therefore since heaven is so glorious a state, and so 
certainly designed for us if we please, let us spend 
all that we have, all our passions and affections, all 
our study and industry, all our desires and strata¬ 
gems, all our witty and ingenious faculties, toward 
the arriving thither, whither if we do come, every 
minute will infinitely pay for all the troubles of our 
whole life; if we do not, we shall have the reward 
of fools, an unpitied and an upbraided misery. 

To this purpose I shall represent the state of 
dying and dead men in the devout words of some 
of the fathers of the Church, whose sense I shall 
exactly keep, but change their order ; that by 
placing some of their dispersed meditations into 
a chain or sequel of discourse, I may with their 
precious stones make a union, and compose them 
into a jewel; for though the meditation is plain 
and easy, yet it is affectionate, and material, and 
true, and necessary. 


Sect. 4.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


79 


The Circumstances of a Dying Man's Sorroio and 

Danger. 

When the sentence of death is decreed, and 
begins to be put in execution, it is sorrow enough 
to see or feel respectively the sad accents of the 
agony and last contentions of the soul, and the re¬ 
luctances and unwillingnesses of the body : the fore¬ 
head washed with a new and stranger baptism, 
besmeared with a cold sweat, tenacious anti clammy, 
apt to make it cleave to the roof Nilus> Perist . viL h (Al> 
of his coffin; the nose cold and Anast sinait. Qu^t. 21.) 

undiscerning, not pleased with perfumes, nor suffer¬ 
ing violence with a cloud of unwholesome smoke ? 
the eyes dim as a sullied mirror, or the face of 
heaven when God shows his anger in a prodigious 
storm ; the feet cold, the hands stiff; the physicians 
despairing, our friends weeping, s . Basil . //om . de Grat 
the rooms dressed with darkness Act - c - ti - 
and sorrow ; and the exterior parts betraying what 
are the violences which the soul and spirit suffer: 
the nobler part, like the lord of the house, being 
assaulted by exterior rudenesses, and driven from 
all the outworks : at last, faint and weary with 
short and frequent breathings, interrupted with the 
longer accents of sighs, without moisture but the 
excrescences of a spilt humor when the pitcher is 
broken at the cistern, it retires to its last fort, the 
heart , whither it is pursued, and stormed, and beaten 
out, as when the barbarous Thracian sacked the 


80 


GENERAL EXERCISES 


[Cir. II. 


glory of the Grecian empire. Then calamity is 
great, and sorrow rules in all the capacities of 
man ; then the mourners weep because it is civil, or 
because they need thee, or because they fear: but 
who suffers for thee with a compassion sharp as is 
thy pain ? Then the noise is like the faint echo of 
a distant valley, and few hear, and they will not 
regard thee, who seemest like a person void of 
understanding, and of a departing interest. Vere 
tremendum est mortis sacramentum. But these acci¬ 
dents are common to all that die; and when a 
special providence shall distinguish them, they shall 
die with easy circumstances; but as no piety can 
secure it, so must no confidence expect it, but wait 
for the time, and accept the manner of the dissolu¬ 
tion. But that which distinguishes them is this: — 
He that hath lived a wicked life, if his conscience 
be alarmed, and that he does not die like a wolf or 
a tiger, without sense or remorse of all his wildness 
and his injury, his beastly nature, and desert and 
untilled manners, if he have but sense of what he is 
going to suffer, or what he may expect to be his 
portion ; then we may imagine the terror of their 
abused fancies, how they see affrighting shapes, and, 
s. chrysost. in Matth. (Ap. because they feai them, they feel 

Anastas. Sinait. 21.) ^ gripeg of deV ils, urging the 

unwilling souls from the kinder and first embraces 
of the body, calling to the grave, and hastening 
to judgment, exhibiting great bills of uncancelled 
crimes, awakening and amazing the conscience, 


Sect. 4.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


81 


breaking all tlieir hope in pieces, and making 
faith useless and terrible, because the malice was 
great, and the charity was none at all. Then 
they look for some to have pity on them , but there 
is no man. No man dares be their pledge. No 
man can redeem their soul , which now feels what it 
never feared. Then the tremblings and the sorrow, 
the memory of the past sin, and the fear of future 
pains, and the sense of an angry God, and the pres¬ 
ence of some devils, consign him to the eternal com¬ 
pany of all the damned and accursed spirits. Then 
they want an angel for their 

. 0 Ephraim Syrus. In Christ. 

guide, and the Holy Spirit for obdorm. (o P p. m. 262f, et 
their comforter, and a good con- 1 
science for their testimony, and Christ for their 
advocate, and they die and are left in prisons of 
earth or air, in secret and undiscerned regions, to 
weep and tremble, and infinitely to fear the coming 
of the day of Christ; at which time they shall be 
brought forth to change their condition into a worse, 
where they shall for ever feel more than we can 
believe or understand. 

But when a good man dies, one that hath lived 
innocently, or made joy in heaven at his timely and 
effective repentance, and in whose behalf the holy 
Jesus hath interceded prosperously, and for whose 
interest the Spirit makes interpellations with groans 
and sighs unutterable , and in whose defence the 
angels drive away the devils on his death-bed, be¬ 
cause his sins are pardoned, and because he resisted 


82 


GENERAL EXERCISES 


[Ch. II. 


the Devil in his lifetime, and fought successfully, 
and persevered unto the end ; then the joys break 
forth through the clouds of sickness, and the con¬ 
science stands upright, and confesses the glory of 
God, and owns so much integrity that it can hope 
for pardon, and obtain it too: then the sorrows of 
the sickness, and the flames of the fever, or the 
faintness of the consumption, do but untie the soul 
from its chain, and let it go forth, first into liberty, 
and then to glory. For it is but for a little while 
that the face of the sky was black, like the prepara¬ 
tions of the night, but quickly the cloud was torn 
and rent, the violence of thunder parted it into 
little portions, that the sun might look forth with a 
watery eye, and then shine without a tear. But it 
is an infinite refreshment to remember all the com¬ 
forts of his prayers, the frequent victory over his 
temptations, the mortification of his lust, the noblest 
sacrifice to God, in which he most delights, that we 
have given him our wills, and killed our appetites 
for the interests of his services : then all the trouble 
of that is gone, and what remains is a portion in the 
„ inheritance of Jesus, of which he now talks no more 
as a thing at distance, but is entering into the pos- 

s. Martynus. session: When the veil is rent, 

s. Eustratms, Martyr. an( j the prison doors are open 

at the presence of God’s angel, the soul goes forth 
full of hope, sometimes with evidence, but always 
with certainty in the thing, and instantly it passes 
into the throngs of spirits, where angels meet it 


Sect. 4.] PREPARATORY TO DEATH. 


83 


singing, and the devils flock with malicious and vile 
purposes, desiring to lead it away with them into 
their houses of sorrow : there they see things which 
they never saw, and hear voices which they never 
heard. There the devils charge them with many 
sins, and the angels remember that themselves re¬ 
joiced when they were repented of. Then the 
devils aggravate and describe all the circumstances 
of the sin, and add calumnies; and the angels bear 
the soul forward still, because their Lord doth 
answer for them. Then the 


S. Chrysostoinus. 


devils rage and gnash their 
teeth; they see the soul chaste and pure, and they 
are ashamed; they see it penitent, and they de¬ 
spair ; they perceive that the tongue was refrained 
and sanctified, and then hold their peace. Then the 
soul passes forth and rejoices, passing by the devils 
in scorn anti triumph, being securely carried into 
the bosom of the Lord, where they shall rest till 
their crowns are finished, and their mansions are 
prepared; and then they shall feast and sing, re¬ 
joice and worship for ever and ... 



ever. Fearful and formidable Oeovepeia, sc idavari- 


£eraL rj xf/vxV- 
Philo. Be Mund. Opif. c. 


to unholy persons is the first 
meeting with spirits in their 


54. (Opp. i. 87, Mang.) 


separation. But the victory which holy souls re¬ 
ceive by the mercies of Jesus Christ, and the con¬ 
duct of angels, is a joy that we must not understand 
till we feel it; and yet such which by an early and 
a persevering piety we may secure: but let us in¬ 
quire after it no further, because it is secret. 



CHAPTER III. 


OF THE STATE OF SICKNESS AND THE TEMPTATIONS INCI¬ 


DENT TO IT, WITH THEIR PROPER REMEDIES. 

Sect. I. — Of the State of Sickness. 

DAM’S sin brought death into the world, and 



il. man did die the same day in which he sinned , 
according as God had threatened. He did not die, 
as death is taken for a separation of soul and body; 
that is not death properly, but the ending of the 
last act of death ; just as a man is said to be born, 
when he ceases any longer to be borne in his 
mother’s womb: but whereas to man was intended 
a life long and happy, without sickness, sorrow, or 
infelicity, and this life should be lived here or in a 
better place, and the passage from one to the other 
should have been easy, safe, and pleasant, now that 
man sinned he fell from that state to a contrary. 

If Adam had stood, he should not always have 
lived in this world; for this world was not a place 
capable of giving a dwelling to all those myriads of 
men and women which should have been born in 
all the generations of infinite and eternal ages ; for 
so it must have been if man had not died at all, nor 



Sect. 1.] OF THE STATE OF SICKNESS. 


85 


yet have removed hence at all. Neither is it likely 
that man’s innocence should have lost to him all 
possibility of going thither where the duration is 
better, measured by a better time, subject to fewer 
changes, and which is now the reward of a return¬ 
ing virtue, which in all natural senses is less than 
innocencq, save that it is heightened by Christ to 
an equality of acceptation with the state of inno¬ 
cence : but so it must have been, that his innocence 
should have been punished with an eternal confine¬ 
ment to this state, which in all reason is the less 
perfect, the state of a traveller, not of one possessed 
of his inheritance. It is therefore certain, man 
should have changed his abode: for so did Enoch, 
and so did Elias, and so shall all the world that 
shall be alive at the day of judgment; they shall not 
die , but they shall change their place and their abode, 
their duration and their state, and all this without 
death. 

That death therefore which God threatened to 
Adam, and which passed upon his posterity, is not 
the going out of this world, but the manner of going. 
If he had stayed in innocence, he should have gone 
from hence placidly and fairly, without vexatious 
and afflictive circumstances ; he 

Prima quae vitam dedit 

should not have died by sick- fcora cnrpit. 

Sen. Here. Fur. Lii. 874. 

ness, misfortune, defect, or un¬ 
willingness : but when he fell, then he began to 
die ; the same day , so said God, and that must needs 
be true ; and therefore it must mean that upon that 


86 


REMEDIES OF TEMPTATIONS [Ch. III. 


very day lie fell into an evil and dangerous condi¬ 
tion, a state of change and affliction. Then death 

began, that is, the man began 

Nascentes morimur, finis- . 

que ab origine pendet. to die by a natural diminution, 

Manil. iv. 16. . 

and aptness to disease and mis¬ 
ery. His first state was, and should have been so 
long as it lasted, a happy duration ; his second was 
a daily and miserable change : and this was the 
dying properly. 

This appears in the great instance of damnation, 
which in the style of Scripture is called eternal 
death ; not because it kills or ends the duration; it 
hath not so much good in it; but because it is a 
perpetual infelicity. Change or separation of soul 
and body is but accidental to death ; death may be 
with or without either ; but the formality, the curse 
and the sting of death, that is, misery, sorrow, fear, 
diminution, defect, anguish, dishonor, and whatso¬ 
ever is miserable and afflictive in nature, that is 
death. Death is not an action, but a whole state 
and condition; and this was first brought in upon 
us by the offence of one man. 

But this went no further than thus to subject us 
to temporal infelicity. If it had proceeded so as 
was supposed, man had been much more miserable ; 
for man had more than one original sin in this 
sense: and though this death entered first upon us 
by Adam’s fault, yet it came nearer unto us and in¬ 
creased upon us by the sins of more of our fore¬ 
fathers. For Adam’s sin left us in strength enough 



Sect. 1.] 


PROPER TO SICKNESS. 


87 


to contend with human calamities for almost a thou¬ 
sand years together: but the sins of his children, our 
forefat hers, took off from us half the st rength about 
the time of the flood ; and then from five hundred 
to two hundred and fifty, and from thence to one 
hundred and twenty, and from thence to threescore 
and ten; so often halving it, till it is almost come 
to nothing. But by the sins of men in the several 
generations of the world death, that is, misery and 
disease, is hastened so upon us, that we are of a 
contemptible age : and because we are to die by 
suffering evils, and by the daily lessening of our 
strength and health, this death is so long a doing, it 
makes so great a part of our short life useless and 
unserviceable, that we have not time enough to get 
the perfection of a single manufacture, but ten or 
twelve generations of the world must go to the 
making up of one wise man, or one excellent art: 
and in the succession of those ages there happen so 
many changes and interruptions, so many wars and 
violences, that seven years’ fighting sets a whole 
kingdom back in learning and virtue, to which they 
were creeping, it may be a whole age. 

And thus also we do evil to our posterity, as 
Adam did to his, and Cham did to his, and Eli to 
his, and all they to theirs who by sins caused God 
to shorten the life and multiply the evils of man¬ 
kind. And for this reason it is the world grows 
worse and worse, because so many original sins are 
multiplied, and so many evils from parents descend 


88 


REMEDIES OF TEMPTATIONS. [Ch. III. 


upon the succeeding generations of men, that they 
derive nothing from us but original misery. 

But he who restored the law of nature did also 
restore us to the condition of nature ; which, being 
violated by the introduction of death, Christ then 
repaired when he suffered and overcame death for 
us ; that is, he hath taken away the unhappiness of 
sickness, and the sting of death, and the dishonors 
of the grave, of dissolution and weakness, of decay 
and change, and hath turned them into acts of 
favor, into instances of comfort, into opportunities 
of virtue. Christ hath now knit them into rosaries 
and coronets, he hath put them into promises and 
rewards, he hath made them part of the portion of 
his elect: they are instruments, and earnests, and 
securities, and passages to the greatest perfection 
of human nature, and the divine promises : so that 
it is possible for us now to be reconciled to sickness. 
It came in by sin , and therefore is cured when it is 
turned into virtue ; and although it may have in it 
the uneasiness of labor, yet it will not be uneasy as 
sin, or the restlessness of a discomposed conscience. 
If therefore we can well manage our state of sick¬ 
ness, that we may not fall by pain , as we usually do 
by pleasure , we need not fear; for no evil shall 
happen to us. 


Sect. 2.] 


OF IMPATIENCE. 


89 


Sect. II. — Of the first Temptation proper to the 
State of Sickness , Impatience. 


M EN that are in health are severe exactors 
of patience at the hands of them that are 
sick ; and they usually judge it not by terms of re¬ 
lation between God and the suffering man, but 
between him and the friends that stand by the bed¬ 
side. It will be therefore necessary that we truly 
understand to what duties and actions the patience 1 
of a sick man ought to extend. 


1. Sighs and groans, sorrow and prayers, humble 

complaints and doloious expies- Ejuiatu, questu, gemitu, 
sions, are the sad accents of a [rSL 8 ”trt mu ' 
sick man’s language. For it is Cic ‘ Tusc ' u * 14, 

not to be expected that a sick man should act a 
part of patience with a countenance like an orator, 
or grave like a dramatic person : it were well if all 
men could bear an exterior decency in their sick¬ 
ness, and regulate their voice, their face, their dis¬ 
course, and all their circumstances, by the measures 
and proportions of comeliness, and satisfaction to all 
the standers-by. But this would better please them 
than assist him ; the sick man would do more good 
to others than he would receive to himself. 

2. Therefore silence and still composures, and 
not complaining, are no parts of a sick man’s duty; 
they are not necessary parts of patience. We find 

that David roaieci foi the veiy Concedendum est gementi. 

disquietness of his sickness ; and 


Cic. ibid. c. 6. 


90 


OF IMPATIENCE. 


[Cii. III. 


lie lay chattering like a sivallow , and his throat was 
dry with calling for help upon his God. That’s 
the proper voice of sickness : and certain it is that 
the proper voices of sickness are expressly vocal 
and petitory in the ears of God, and call for pity 
in the same accent as the cries and oppressions of 
widows and orphans do for vengeance upon their 
persecutors, though they say no collect against them. 
For there is the voice of a man , and there is the 
voice of the disease, and God hears both, and the 
louder the disease speaks there is the greater need 
of mercy and pity, and therefore God will the 
sooner hear it. Abel’s blood had a voice, and cried 
to God; and humility hath a voice, and cries so 
loud to God that it pierces the clouds ; and so hath 
riagrantior aequo every sorrow and every sick¬ 

ness : and when a man cries 
out, and complains but accord¬ 
ing to the sorrows of his pain, it cannot be any 
part of a culpable impatience, but an argument 
for pity. 

3. Some men’s senses are so subtile, and their 
perceptions so quick and full of relish, and their 
spirits so active, that the same load is double upon 
them to what it is to another person : and therefore 
comparing the expressions of the one to the silence 
of the other, a different judgment cannot be made 
concerning their patience. Some natures are queru¬ 
lous, and melancholic, and soft, and nice, and ten¬ 
der, and weeping, and expressive; others are sullen, 


Non debet dolor esse viri, nee 
vulnere major. 

Juv. Sat. xiii. 11. 


Sect. 2.] 


OF IMPATIENCE. 


91 


dull, without apprehension, apt to tolerate and carr 
burdens: and the crucifixion of our blessed Saviour 
falling upon a delicate and virgin body, of curious 
temper, and strict, equal composition, was naturally 
more full of torment than that of the ruder thieves, 
whose proportions were coarser and uneven. 

4. In this case it was no imprudent advice which 
CiceiO gave . nothing in the Omnino si quicquam cst 
world is more amiable than an 

even temper in our whole life, 
and in every action: but this non!»«>»,.iRiorum 
evenness cannot be kept unless am.-cic. De off. i. 31 . 
every man follows his own nature, without striving 
to imitate the circumstances of another. And what 
is so in the thing itself ought to be so in our judg¬ 
ments concerning the things. We must not call 
any one impatient if he be not silent in a fever, as 
if he were asleep, or as if he were dull as Herod’s 
son of Athens. 

5. Nature in some cases hath made cryings out 
and exclamations to be an entertainment of the 
spirit, and an abatement or diversion of the pain. 
For so did the old champions, when they threw 
their fatal nets that they might load their enemy 
with the snaies and W eighth of Quiaprofundendavoceom- 

death ; they groaned aloud, and ” “15™"'- 

sent forth the anguish of their C,c Twc -"-w- 

spirit into the eyes and heart of the man that stood 
against them. So it is in the endurance of some 
sharp pains : the complaints and shriekings, the 


92 


OF IMPATIENCE. 


[Ch. III. 


sharp groans and the tender accents send forth the 
afflicted spirits, and force a way, that they may ease 
their oppression and their load; that, when they 
have spent some of their sorrows by a sally forth, 
they may return better able to fortify the heart. 
Nothing of this is a certain sign, much less an action 
or part, of impatience; and when our blessed Sav¬ 
iour suffered his last and sharpest pang of sorrow, 
he cried out with a loud voice, and resolved to die, 
and did so. 

Sect. III. — Constituent or integral parts of Patience . 

1. HpHAT we may secure our patience, we must 
I take care that our complaints he without 
despair. Despair sins against the reputation of 
God’s goodness, and the efficacy of all our old ex¬ 
perience. By despair we destroy the greatest com¬ 
fort of our sorrows, and turn our sickness into the 
state of devils and perishing souls. No affliction is 
greater than despair: for that is it which makes 
hell-fire, and turns a natural evil into an intoler¬ 
able ; it hinders prayers, and fills up the intervals 
of sickness with a worse torture; it makes all 
spiritual arts useless, and the office of spiritual 
comforters and guides to be impertinent. 

Against this, hope is to be opposed: and its 
proper acts as it relates to the virtue and exercise 
of patience are, 1. Praying to God for help and 
remedy ; 2. Sending for the guides of souls ; 3. 


Sect. 3.] 


OF IMPATIENCE. 


93 


Using all holy exercises and acts of grace proper 
to that state; which whoso does hath not the im¬ 
patience of despair: every man that is patient hath 
hope in God in the day of his sorrows. 

2. Our complaints in sickness must be without 
murmur. Murmur sins against God’s providence 
and government; by it we grow rude, and, like the 
fallen angels, displeased at God’s supremacy; and 
nothing is more unreasonable. It talks against 
God, for whose glory all speech was made; it is 
proud and fantastic, hath better opinions of a sinner 
than of the divine justice, and would rather accuse 
God than himself. 

Against this is opposed that part of patience 
which resigns the man into the hands of God, say¬ 
ing with old Eli, It is the Lord, let him do what he 
will; and, Thy will be done in earth , as it is in 
heaven ; and so the admiring God’s justice and 
wisdom does also dispose the sick person for re¬ 
ceiving God’s mercy, and secure him the rather in 
the grace of God. The proper acts of this part of 
patience are: 1. To confess our sins and our own 
demerits. 2. It increases and exercises humility. 
3. It loves to sing praises to God, even from the 
lowest abyss of human misery. 

3. Our complaints in sickness must be without 
peevishness. This sins against civility, and that 
necessary decency which must be used towards the 
ministers and assistants. By peevishness we in¬ 
crease our own sorrows, and are troublesome to 


94 


OF IMPATIENCE. 


[Ch. III. 


them that stand there to ease ours. It hath in it 
harshness of nature and ungentleness, wilfulness 
and fantastic opinions, morosity and incivility. 

Against it are opposed obedience, tractability, 
easiness of persuasion, aptness to take counsel. 
The acts of this part of patience are, 1. To obey 
our physicians; 2. To treat our persons with re¬ 
spect to our present necessities : 

Vide Chap. 4. Sect. 1. A 1 

o. Not to be ungentle and un¬ 
easy to the ministers and nurses that attend us, but 
to take their diligent and kind offices as sweetly as 
we can, and to bear their indiscretions or unhand¬ 
some accidents contentedly and without disquietness 
within, or evil language or angry words without; 
4. Not to use unlawful means for our recovery. 

If we secure these particulars we are not lightly 
to be judged of by noises and posture, by colors and 
images of things, by paleness, or tossing from side 
to side. For it were a hard thing that those per¬ 
sons who are loaden with the greatest of human 
calamities should be strictly tied to ceremonies and 
forms of things. He is patient that calls upon 
God ; that hopes for health or heaven ; that be¬ 
lieves God is wise and just in sending him afflic¬ 
tions ; that confesses his sins and accuses himself, 
and justifies God; that expects God will turn this 
into good; that is civil to his physicians and his 
servants; that converses with the guides of souls, 
the ministers of religion ; and in all things submits 
to God’s will, and would use no indirect means for 


Sect. 4.] 


OF IMPATIENCE. 


05 


his recovery, but had rather be sick and die than 
enter at all into God’s displeasure. 


Sect. IV. — Remedies against Impatience, bg wag 

of Consideration. 

A S it happens concerning death, so it is in sick¬ 
ness, which is death’s handmaid: it hath the 
fate to suffer calumny and reproach, and hath a 
name worse than its nature. 

1. For there is no sickness so great but children 
endure it, and have natural strengths to bear them 
out quite through the calamity, what period soever 
nature hath allotted it. Indeed, they make no 
reflections upon their sufferings, and complain of 
sickness with an uneasy sigh or natural groan, but 
consider not what the sorrows of sickness mean ; 
and so bear it by a direct sufferance, and as a pillar 
bears the weight of a roof. But then why cannot 
we bear it so too? For this which we call a re¬ 
flection upon, or considering of, our sickness, is 
nothing but a perfect instrument of trouble, and 
consequently a temptation to impatience. It serves 
no end of nature ; it may be avoided, and we may 

Consider It only as an expiession Praotuleriin ... delirus i 


i mers- 


of Gods ailgei, and ail eillis- D um meadelectentmalarne, 

sary or procurator of repent- 

ance. But all other consider- nor. Epist. u. 2.12c. 

ing it, except where it serves the purposes of medi¬ 
cine and art, is nothing but, under the color of 


96 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Cir. III. 


reason, an unreasonable device to heighten the 
sickness and increase the torment. But then, as 
children want this act of reflex perception or 
reasonable sense, whereby their sickness becomes 
less pungent and dolorous, so also do they want 
the helps of reason whereby they should be able 
to support it. For certain it is, reason was as well 
given us to harden our spirits, and stiffen them in 
passions and sad accidents, as to make us bending 
and apt for action: and if in men God hath height¬ 
ened the faculties of apprehension, he hath increased 
the auxiliaries of reasonable strengths, that God’s 
rod and God’s staff might go together; and the 
beam of God’s countenance may as well refresh us 
with its light as scorch us with its heat. But poor 
children, that endure so much, have not inward 
supports and refreshments to bear them through 
it: they never heard the sayings of old men, nor 
have been taught the principles of severe philoso¬ 
phy, nor are assisted with the results of a long 
experience, nor know they how to turn a sickness 
into virtue, and a fever into a reward ; nor have 
they any sense of favors, the remembrance of which 
may alleviate their burden : and yet nature hath 
in them teeth and nails enough to scratch and fight 
against their sickness ; and by such aids as God is 
pleased to give them they wade through the storm, 
and murmur not. And besides this, yet although 
infants have not such brisk perceptions upon the 
stock of reason, they have a more tender feeling 



Sect. 4.] 


IMPATIENCE. 


97 


upon the accounts of sense, and their flesh is as 
uneasy by their unnatural softness and weak shoul¬ 
ders as ours by our too forward apprehensions. 
Therefore bear up: either you or I, or some man 
wiser, and many a woman weak¬ 



er than us both, or the very 
children, have endured worse 
evil than this that is upon thee 
now. 


TeYAafli Sr], KpaSir] • kcu 
Kvvrepov aAAo nor' 
ctAtjs. 


Ulysses ap. Horn. Od. xx. 17. 


2. That sorrow is hugely tolerable which gives its 
smart but by instants and smallest proportions of 

* time. No man at once feels the sickness of a week, 
or of a w r hole day, but the smart of an instant: and 
still every portion of a minute feels but its proper 
share, and the last groan ended all the sorrow of its 
peculiar burden. And what minute can that be 
which can pretend to be intolerable ? and the next 
minute is but the same as the last, and the pain 
flows like the drops of a river, or the little shreds 
of time: and if we do but take care of the present 
minute, it cannot seem a great charge or a great 
burden; but that care will secure our duty, if we 
still but secure the present minute. 

3. If we consider how much men can suffer if 
they list, and how much they do suffer for great 
and little causes, and that no causes are greater 
than the proper causes of patience and sickness, 
that is, necessity and religion, we cannot without . 
huge shame to our nature, to our persons, and to 
our manners, complain of this tax and impost of 


98 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch. III. 


nature. This experience added something to the 
old philosophy. When the gladiators were ex¬ 
posed naked to each other’s short swords, and were 
to cut each other’s souls away in portions of flesh, 
as if their forms had been as divisible as the life of 
worms, they did not sigh or groan; it was a shame 
to decline the blow but according to the just meas¬ 
ures of art. The * women that 

* Spectatores vociferantur, , 1 i i • 1 , „ i 

ictus tacct saw the wound shriek out, and 

,^t»uTQu“t,frr he that receives it holds his 

moifo“w “erumSmT P eaCe ' He did “ 0t ° nI y Staild 

cubuit turpiter^ bravely, but would also fall so ; 

and when he was down, scorned 
to shrink his head when the insolent conqueror 
came to lift it from his shoulders : and yet this 
man in his first design only aimed at liberty, and 
the reputation of a good fencer; and when he sunk 
down, he saw he could only receive the honor of a 
bold man, the noise of which he shall never hear 
when his ashes are crammed in his narrow urn. 
And what can we complain of the weakness of our 
strengths, or the pressures of diseases, when we see 
a poor soldier stand in a breach almost starved 
with cold and hunger, and his cold apt to be re¬ 
lieved only by the heats of anger, a fever, or a 
fired musket, and his hunger slacked by a greater 
pain, and a huge fear ? This man shall stand in 
his arms and wounds, patiens luminis atque soils , 
pale and faint, weary and watchful; and at night 
shall have a bullet pulled out of his flesh, and 


Sect. 4.] 


IMPATIENCE: 


99 


shivers from his bones, and endure his mouth to be 
sewed up from a violent rent to its own dimension; 
and all this for a man whom he never saw, or if he 
did, was not noted by him, but one that shall con¬ 
demn him to the gallows if he runs from all this 
misery. It is seldom that God sends such calami¬ 
ties upon men as men bring upon themselves, and 
suffer willingly. But that which is most consider¬ 
able is, that any passion and violence upon the 
spirit of man makes him able to suffer huge calami¬ 
ties with a certain constancy and an unwearied 
patience. Scipio Africanus was 

Cic. Tusc. ii. 25. 

wont to commend that saying 

in Xenophon, That the same labors of warfare were 

easier far to a general than to a 

Xcn. Cyr. i. G. 25. 

common soldier, because he was 
supported by the huge appetites of honor, which 
made his hard marches nothing but stepping for¬ 
ward and reaching at a triumph. Did not the 
ladv of Sabinus for others’ in- 

. . Plut. Amat. p. 771 b. 

terest bear twins privately and 
without groaning ? Are not the labors and cares., 
the spare diet and the waking nights of covetous 
and adulterous, of ambitious and revengeful per¬ 
sons, greater sorrows and of more smart than a 
fever, or the short pains of childbirth ? What will 
not tender women suffer to hide their shame ? And 
if vice and passion, lust and inferior appetites can 
supply to the tenderest persons strengths more than 
enough for the sufferance of the greatest natural 


100 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch. III. 


violences, can we suppose that honesty, and relig¬ 
ion, and the grace of God are more nice, tender, 
and effeminate ? 

4. Sickness is the more tolerable, because it 
cures very many evils, and takes away the sense of 
all the cross fortunes which amaze the spirits of 
some men, and transport them certainly beyond all 
the limits of patience. Here all losses and dis¬ 
graces, domestic cares and public evils, the appre¬ 
hensions of pity and a sociable calamity, the fears of 
want and the troubles of ambition, lie down and 
rest upon the sick man’s pillow. One tit of the 
stone takes away from the fancies of men all rela¬ 
tions to the world and secular interests: at least 
they are made dull and flat, without sharpness and 
an edge. 

And he that shall observe the infinite variety of 
troubles which afflict some busy persons, and almost 
all men in very busy times, will think it not much 
amiss that those huge numbers were reduced to cer¬ 
tainty, to method and an order; and there is no 
better compendium for this, than that they be re¬ 
duced to one. And a sick man seems so uncon¬ 
cerned in the things of the world, that although 
this separation be done with violence, yet it is no 
otherwise than all noble contentions are, and all 
honors are purchased, and all virtues are acquired, 
and all vices mortified, and all appetites chastised, 
and all rewards obtained: there is infallibly to all 
these a difficulty and a sharpness annexed without 




Sect. 4.] 


IMPATIENCE. 


101 


which there coulcl be no proportion between a work 
and a reward. To this add, that sickness does not 
take off the sense of secular troubles and worldly 
cares from us, by employing all the perceptions and 
apprehensions of men ; by filling all faculties with 
sorrow, and leaving no room for the lesser instances 
of troubles, as little rivers are swallowed up in the 
sea: but sickness is a messenger of God, sent with 
purposes of abstraction and separation, with a secret 
power and a proper efficacy to draw us from un¬ 
profitable and useless sorrows. And this is effected 
partly, by reason that it represents the uselessness 
of the things of this world, and that there is a pro¬ 
portion of this life in which honors and things of the 
world cannot serve us to many purposes; partly, 
by preparing us to death, and telling us that a man 
shall descend thither whence this world cannot re¬ 
deem us, and where the goods of this world cannot 
serve us. 

o. And yet after all this, sickness leaves in us 
appetites so strong, and apprehensions so sensible, 
and delights so many, and good things in so great 
a degree, that a healthless body and a sad disease 
do seldom make men weary of Dcbilcn , Mt0 de . 


this world, but still they would bi,e ™ P etb3 > co f • , lubricos 

' J quate dentes; vita durn su- 


fain find an excuse to live. The perest bene est. Ilanc mihi, 

vel acuta si sedeam cruce, 

grout, the stone, and the tooth- sustine. 

7 7 Sen. Ep. ci. 11. 

ache, the sciatica, sore eyes, and 

an aching head, are evils indeed, but such which, 

rather than die, most men are willing to suffer; 


102 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Cir. III. 


and Maecenas added also a wish, rather to be cru¬ 
cified than to die: and though his wish w as low, 
timorous, and base, yet we find the same desires in 
most men, dressed up with better circumstances. It 
was a cruel mercy in Tamerlane, who commanded 
all the leprous persons to be put to death, as w r e 
knock some beasts quickly on their head, to put 
them out of pain, and lest they should live miser¬ 
ably : the poor men would rather have endured 
another leprosy, and have more willingly taken 
two diseases than one death. Therefore Cmsar 
wondered that the old crazed soldier begged leave 
he might kill himself, and asked him, Dost thou 
think then to he more alive than now thou art ? We 
do not die suddenly, but we descend to death by 
steps and slow passages : -and therefore men (so 
long as they are sick) are unwilling to proceed and 
go forward in the finishing that sad employment. 
Between a disease and death there are many de¬ 
grees, and all those are like the reserves of evil 
things, the declining of every one of which is justly 
reckoned among those good things which alleviate 
the sickness and make it tolerable. Never account 
that sickness intolerable in which thou hadst rather 
remain than die : and yet if thou hadst rather die 
than suffer it, the worst of it that can be said is 
this, that the sickness is worse than death ; that is, 
it is w 7 orse than that which is the best of all evils, 
and the end of all troubles ; and then you have 
said no great harm against it. 


Sect. 4.] 


IMP A TIEN CE. 


103 


6. Remember that thou art under a supervening 
necessity. Nothing is intolerable that is necessary ; 
and therefore when men are to suffer a sharp in¬ 
cision, or what they are pleased to call intolerable, 
tie the man down to it and he endures it. Now 
God hath bound the sickness 

-Improbseque tigres 

upon thee by the condition of Indulgentpatientiam flagello. 
1 J Mart. Epig. i. 105.2. 

nature; for every flower must impigeretfortisvirtuteco¬ 
wither and drop. It is also actus ’ 
bound upon thee by special providence, and with a 
design to try thee, and with purposes to reward 
and to crown thee. These cords thou canst not 
break ; and therefore lie thou down gently, and 
suffer the hand of God to do what he please, that 
at least thou mayest swallow an advantage which 
the care and severe mercies of God force down thy 
throat. 

7. Remember that all men have passed this way : 
the bravest, the wisest, and the 

. Cerno equidem gemina con- 

best men have been subject to stratos morte piniippos, 

Thessalijeque rogos, et fu- 

sickness and sad diseases; and neragentisiberae. 

. , . Petron. Sat. c. 121. 

it is esteemed a prodigy that a 
man should live to a long age and not be sick : 
and it is recorded for a wonder concerning Xeno- 
pliilus the musician that he lived to a hundred and 
six years of age in a perfect and continual health. 
No story tells the like of a 
prince, 


or a great or 


Rara est in nobilitate se- 

a wise nectus. 

See Juv. Sat. iv. 97. 

person, unless we have a mind 

to believe the tales concerning Nestor, and the 



104 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Oh. III. 


* Cic. De Sen. cc. 10,19. 


Euboean Sibyl, or reckon Cyrus of Persia, or Masi- 
nissa the Mauritanian to be rivals of old age, or 
that Arganthonius the Tartessian king did really 
outstrip that age, according as his story tells, re¬ 
porting him to have * reigned 
eighty years, and to have lived 
a hundred and twenty. Old age and healthful 
bodies are seldom made the appendages to great 

fortunes: and under so great 

t Ferre quam sortem pati- . 

unturoiiincs,Nemorecusat. and so f universal precedents, so 

Sen. Troacl. iv. 1010. on i 

common fate of men, he that 
will not suffer his portion deserves to be something 
else than a man, but nothing that is better. 

8. We find in story that many Gentiles, who 
walked by no light but that of reason, opinion, and 
human examples, did bear their sickness nobly, and 
with great contempt of pain, and with huge interests 
of virtue. When Pompey came from Syria, and 
called at Rhodes to see Posidonius the philosopher, 
he found him hugely afflicted with the gout, and ex¬ 
pressed his sorrow‘that he could not hear his lec¬ 
tures, from which by this pain he must needs be 
hindered. Posidonius told him, But you may hear 
me for all this: and he discoursed excellently in the 
midst of his tortures, even then when the torches 

Cum faces doloris admove- Were put to hlS feet , That 110th- 
rentur. — Cic. 'Jusc. n. 2,j. wag ( j ()() y u ,/ ia f was ] (0n . 

est; and therefore nothing could he an evil if it were 
not criminal: and summed up his lectures with this 
saying, 0 pain , in vain dost thou attempt me: for I 


Sect. 4.] 


I MPA TIEN CE. 


105 


Cic. Tusc. i. 35. 


will never confess thee to he an evil as long as I can 
honestly hear thee. And when Pompey himself was 
desperately sick at Naples, the 
Neapolitans wore crowns and 
triumphed, and the men of Puteoli came to con¬ 
gratulate his sickness, not because they loved him 
not, but because it w T as the custom of their country 
to have better opinions of sickness than we have. 
The boys of Sparta would at their altars endure 
whipping till their very entrails 

. ,. . . Cic. Tusc. ii. 14. 

saw the light through their torn 
flesh, and some of them to death, without crying or 
complaint. Caesar would drink his potions of rhu¬ 
barb rudely mixed, and unfitly allayed, with little 
sippings, and tasted the horror of the medicine, 
spreading the loathsomeness of his physic so, that 
all the parts of his tongue and palate might have 
an entire share. And when C. piut. Mar. c. 

Marius suffered the veins of his cic. Tusc. h. 15 , 22 . 

leg to be cut out for the curing of his gout, and yet 
shrunk not, he declared not only the rudeness of 
their physic, but the strength of a man’s spirit, if it 
be contracted and united by the aids of reason or 
religion, by resolution or any accidental harshness, 
against a violent disease. 


9. All impatience, howsoever expressed, is per¬ 
fectly useless to all purposes of ease, but hugely 
effective to the multiplying the trouble; and the 
impatience and vexation is another, but the sharper 
disease of the two : it does mischief by itself and 


106 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch. III. 


mischief by the disease . For men grieve themselves 

Tantum doluerunt quan- <** mUch as P leClSe * an(1 

tumdoioribuBiMcmcrunt. when by i mpat ience they put 
Yirg. jEn. viii. 4 . themselves into the retinue of 
sorrows, they become solemn mourners. For so 
have I seen the rays of the sun or moon dash upon 
a brazen vessel, whose lips kissed the face of those 
waters that lodged within its bosom ; but being 

turned back and sent off with 

Ceu rore seges virct, 

sic erescunt riguis tristia fie- its smooth pretences or rougher 
tibus; . 1 

Urget lacryma lacrymam, waftillgS, it Wandered al)OUt the 
Fcccundusque sui sc numer- 

at dolor. room and beat upon the roof, 

Quern fortunasemel virum . 3 

Udodegeneremluminevide- and Still doubled 1 ts heat and 

ilium ssepc ferit. motion. So is a sickness and 

Sarbiev. Lyric, iv. 13.5. . . . . 

a sorrow, entertained by an un¬ 
quiet and a discontented man, turned back either 
with anger or with excuses ; but then the pain 
passes from the stomach to the liver, and from the 
liver to the heart, and from the heart to the head, 
and from feeling to consideration, from thence to 
sorrow, and at last ends in impatience and useless 
murmur : and all the way the man was impotent 
and weak, but the sickness was doubled, and grew 
imperious and tyrannical over the soul and body. 

Masurius Sabinus tells that the 

Ap. Macrob. Saturn, i. 10. . 

image of the goddess Angerona 
was with a muffler upon her mouth placed upon 

the altar of Volupia, to repre- 

- Levius fit patientia 1 1 

Quicquid corrigcre est nefas. Sdlt that tllOSe pei’SOHS wllO 
Hor. Vann. i. 24. 19. . 

bear their sicknesses and sor- 



Sect. 5.] 


IMP A TIEN CE. 


107 


rows without murmurs shall certainly pass from 
sorrow to pleasure, and the ease and honors of 
felicity; but they that with spite and indignation 
bite the burning coal, or shake the yoke upon their 
necks, gall their spirits, and fret the skin, and hurt 
nothing but themselves. 

10. Remember that this sickness is but for a 
short time: if it be sharp, it will not last long; if 
it be long, it will be easy and very tolerable. And 
although St. Eadsine, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
had twelve years of sickness, yet all that while he 
ruled his church prudently, gave example of many 
virtues, and after his death was enrolled in the 
calendar of saints who had finished their course 
prosperously. Nothing is more unreasonable than 
to entangle our spirits in wildness and amazement, 
like a partridge fluttering in a net, which she breaks 
not though she breaks her wings. 


Sect. Y. —Remedies against Impatience , by way 

of exercise . 

1. r | AHE fittest instrument of esteeming sickness 
g easily tolerable is, to remember that which 
indeed makes it so; and that is, that God doth 
minister proper aids and supports to every of his 
servants whom he visits with his rod. He knows 
our needs, he pities our sorrows, he relieves our 
miseries, he supports our weakness, he bids us ask 
for help, and he promises to give us all that, and 


108 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch. nr. 


he usually gives us more. And indeed it is observ¬ 
able that no story tells of any godly man who, liv¬ 
ing in the fear of God, fell into a violent and un¬ 
pardoned impatience in his natural sickness, if he 
used those means which God and his holy Church 
have appointed. We see almost all men bear their 
last sickness with sorrows indeed, but without vio¬ 
lent passions; and unless they fear death violently, 
they suffer the sickness with some indifferency: and 
it is a rare thing to see a man who enjoys his reason 
in his sickness, to express the proper signs of a 
direct and solemn impatience. For when God lays 
a sickness upon us, he seizes commonly on a man’s 
spirits, which are the instruments of action and 
business; and when they are secured from being 
tumultuous, the sufferance is much the easier: and 
therefore sickness secures all that which can do the 
man mischief; it makes him tame and passive, apt 
for suffering, and confines him to an unactive con¬ 
dition. To which if we add, that God then com¬ 
monly produces fear, and all those passions which 
naturally tend to humility and poverty of spirit, we 
shall soon perceive by what instruments God verifies 
his promise to us, — which is the great security for 

our patience, and the easiness 

1 Cor. 10.13. 1 7 

of our condition, — that God 
will lay no more upon us titan he ivill made us able 
to bear , but together with the affliction he will find 
Psai. 9 . 9 . Matt. 7.7. jam. a way to escape. Nay, if anv- 

5. 13. Psal. 31.19,24. Psal. . . . , J 

34. 22. tiling can be more than this, we 


Sect. 5.] 


IMPATIENCE. 


109 


have two or three promises in which we may safely 
lodge ourselves, and roll from off our thorns, and 
find ease and rest: God hath promised to be with 
us in our trouble, and to be with us in our prayers , 
and to be with us in our hope and confidence. 

2. Prevent the violence and trouble of thy spirit 
by an act of thanksgiving: for which in the worst 
of sicknesses thou canst not want cause, especially 
if thou rememberest that this pain is not an eternal 
pain. Bless God for that. But take heed also lest 
you so order your affairs, that you pass from hence 
to an eternal sorrow. If that be hard, this will he 
intolerable. But as for the present evil, a few days 
will end it. 

3. Remember that thou art a man, and a Chris¬ 
tian : as the covenant of nature hath made it neces¬ 
sary, so the covenant of grace hath made it to be 
chosen by thee, to be a suffering person. Either 
you must renounce your religion, or submit to the 
impositions of God, and thy portion of sufferings. 
So that here we see our advantages, and let us use 
them accordingly. The barbarous and warlike 
nations of old could fight well and willingly, but 
could not bear sickness manfully. The Greeks 
were cowardly in their fights, as most wise men 
are ; but because they were learned and well 
taught, they bore their sickness with patience and 
severity. The Cimbrians and Celtiberians rejoice 
in battle like giants, but in their diseases they weep 
like women. These, according to their institutions 


110 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Cii. HI. 


and designs, had unequal courages and accidental 
fortitude. But since our religion hath made a cove¬ 
nant of sufferings , and the great business of our 
lives is sufferings , and most of the virtues of a 
Christian are passive graces , and all the promises 
of the Gospel are passed upon us through Christ's 
cross , we have a necessity upon us to have an equal 
courage in all the variety of our sufferings: for 
without an universal fortitude w r e can do nothing 
of our duty. 

4. Resolve to do as much as you can ; for certain 
it is we can suffer very much, if we list; and many 
men have afflicted themselves unreasonably by not 
being skilful to consider how much their strength 
and estate could permit; and our flesh is nice and 
imperious, crafty to persuade reason that she hath 
more necessities than indeed belong to her, and 
that she demands nothing superfluous. Suffer as 
much in obedience to God as you can suffer for 
necessity or passion, fear or desire. And if you can 
for one thing, you can for another, and there is 
nothing wanting but the mind. Never say, I can 
do no more , I cannot endure this; for God would 
not have sent it, if he had not known thee strong 
enough to abide it; only he that knows thee well 
already, would also take this occasion to make thee 
to know thyself. But it will be lit that you pray 
to God to give you a discerning spirit, that you may 
rightly distinguish just necessity from the flattery 
and fondnesses of flesh and blood. 




Sect. 5.] 


IMPATIENCE . 


Ill 


5. Propound to your eyes and heart the example 
of the holy Jesus upon the cross: he endured more 
for thee than thou canst either for thyself or him. 
And remember that if we be put to suffer, and do 
suffer in a good cause, or in a good manner, so that in 
any sense your sufferings be conformable to his suf¬ 
ferings, or can be capable of being united to his, we 
shall reign together with him. The highway of the 
cross which the King of sufferings hath trodden 
before us, is the way to ease, to a kingdom, and to 
felicity. 

6. The very suffering is a title to an excellent 
’ inheritance: for God chastens every son whom he 
' receives, and if we be not chastised, we are bastards, 

and not sons. And be confident, that although God 
often sends pardon without correction, yet he never 
sends correction without pardon, unless it be thy 
fault: and therefore take every or any affliction as 
an earnest-penny of thy pardon; and upon condi¬ 
tion there may be peace with God, let anything be 
welcome that he can send as its instrument or con¬ 
dition. Suffer therefore God to choose his own 
circumstances of adopting tliee, and be content to 
be under discipline, when the reward of that is to 
become the son of God: and by such inflictions he 
hews and breaks thy body, first dressing it to 
funeral, and then preparing it for immortality. 
And if this be the effect or the design of God’s 
love to thee, let it be occasion of thy love to 
him ; and remember that the truth of love is 


112 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch. III. 


hardly known but by-somewhat that puts us to 
pain. 

7. Use this as a punishment for thy sins; and so 
God intends it most commonly, that is certain. If 
therefore thou submittest to it, thou ajijirovest of 
the divine judgment. And no man can have cause 
to complain of anything but of himself, if either he 
believes God to be just, or himself to be a sinner ; 
if he either thinks he hath deserved hell, or that 
this little may be a means to prevent the greater, 
and bring him to heaven. 

8. It may be that this may be the last 
and the last opportunity that ever God will give 
thee to exercise any virtue, to do him any service, 
or thyself any advantage : be careful that thou 
losest not this, for to eternal ages this never shall 
return again. 

9. Or if thou peradventure shalt be restored to 
health, be careful that in the day of thy thanks¬ 
giving thou mayest not be ashamed of thyself for 
having behaved thyself poorly and weakly upon 
thy bed. It will be a sensible and excellent com¬ 
fort to thee, and double upon thy spirit, if when 
thou shalt worship God for restoring thee, thou 
shalt also remember that thou didst do him service 
in thy suffering, and tell that God was hugely 
gracious to thee in giving thee the opportunity of a 
virtue at so easy a rate as a sickness from which 
thou didst recover. 

10. Few men are so sick but they believe that 


instance 



Sect. 5.] 


IMPATIENCE . 


113 


they may recover; and we shall seldom see a man 
lie down with a perfect persuasion that it is his last 
hour; for many men have been sicker, and yet 
have recovered. But whether thou dost or no, 
thou hast a virtue to exercise, which may be a 
handmaid to thy patience. Epapliroditus was sick, 
sick unto death , and yet God had mercy upon him ; 
and he hath done so to thousands, to whom he 
found it useful in the great order of things, and the 
events of universal providence. If therefore thou 
desirest to recover, here is cause enough of hope, 
and hope^ is designed in the arts of God and of the 
Spirit to support patience. But if thou recoverest 
not, yet there is something that is matter of joy 
naturally, and very much spiritually, if thou belong- 
est to God; and joy is as certain a support of pa¬ 
tience as hope: and it is no small cause of being 
pleased, when we remember that, if we recover not, 
our sickness shall the sooner sit down in rest and 
joy. For recovery by death, as it is easier and 
better than the recovery by a sickly health, so it is 
not so long in doing. It suffers not the tediousness 
of a creeping restitution, nor the inconvenience of 
surgeons and physicians, watchfulness and care, 
keepings in and suffering trouble, fears of relapse 
and the little relics of a storm. 

11. While we hear, or use, or think of these 
remedies, part of the sickness is gone away, and all 
of it is passing. And if by such instruments we 
stand armed and ready dressed beforehand, we shall 


ii 


114 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Cii. III. 


avoid the mischiefs of amazements and surprise ; 


while the accidents of sickness 
are such as were expected, and 
against which we stood in readi- 
ness, with our spirits contracted, 


Nulla mihi nova nunc facies 
inopinavc surgit: 


Omnia praecepi atqueanimo 
mecum ante pcregi. 


See Virg. EEn. vi. 104. 


instructed, and put upon the defensive. 

12. But our patience will be the better secured 
if w.e consider that it is not violently tempted by 
the usual arrests of sickness: for patience is with 
reason demanded while the sickness is tolerable, 
that is, so long as the evil is not too great; but if 
it be also eligible, and have in it some degrees of 
good, our patience will have in it the less difficulty 
and the greater necessity^. This therefore will 
be a new stock of consideration : Sickness is in 
many degrees eligible to many men , and to many 
purposes. 

Sect. VI. — Advantages of Sickness. 

1. T CONSIDER one of the great felicities of 

1 heaven consists in an immunity from sin. 
Then we shall love God without mixtures of mal¬ 
ice ; then we shall enjoy without envy; then we 
shall see fuller vessels running over with glory and 
crowned with bigger circles; and this we shall 
behold without spilling from our eyes (those vessels 
of joy and grief) any sign of anger, trouble, or any 
repining spirit: our passions shall be pure, our 
charity without fear, our desire without lust, our 


Sect. 6.] 


IMPATIENCE. 


115 


possessions all our own ; and all in the inheritance 
of Jesus, in the richest soil of God’s eternal kina:- 
dom. Now, half of this reason which makes heaven 
so happy by being innocent, is also in the state of 
sickness, making the sorrows of old age smooth, and 
the groans of a sick heart apt to be joined to the 
music of angels: and though they sound harsh to 
our untuned ears and discomposed organs, yet those 
accents must needs be in themselves excellent which 
God loves to hear, and esteems them as prayers, 
and arguments of 'pity, instruments of mercy and 
grace, and preparatives to glory. 

In sickness the soul begins to dress herself for 
immortality. And first, she unties the strings of 
vanity , that made her upper garment cleave to the 
world , and sit uneasy. First, she puts off the light 
and fantastic summer robe of lust and wanton appe¬ 
tite: and as soon as that Cestus, that lascivious 
girdle is thrown away, then the reins chasten us and 
give us warning in the night; then that which called 
us formerly to serve the manliness of the body , and 
the childishness of the soul, keeps us waking, to 
divide the hours with the intervals of prayer, and 
to number the minutes with our penitential groans; 
then the flesh sits uneasily and dwells in sorrow; 
and then the spirit feels itself at ease, freed from 
the petulant solicitations of those passions which in 
health were as busy and as restless as atoms in the 
sun, always dancing, and always busy, and never 
sitting down, till a sad night of grief and uneasiness 


116 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch. III. 


draws the veil, and lets them die alone in secret 
dishonor. 

2. Next to this, the soul by the help of sickness 
knocks off the fetters of pride , and vainer compla¬ 
cencies. Then she draws the curtains, and stops 

the light from coming in, and 

Nunc festinatos nimium sibi 

sentit honorcs, takes the pictures down, those 

Actaque laiiriferas damnat . _, , 

syiiaua juventas. tantastic images ot sell-love, and 

Lucan, viii. 24. . 0 

gay remembrances ot vain opin¬ 
ion and popular noises. Then the spirit stoops into 
the sobrieties of humble thoughts, and feels cor¬ 
ruption chiding the forwardness of fancy, and allay¬ 
ing the vapors of conceit and factious opinions. 
For humility is the soul’s grave, into which she 
enters, not to die, but to meditate and inter some 
of its troublesome appendages. There she sees 
the dust, and feels the dishonor of the body, and 
reads the register of all its sad adherences; and 
then she lays by all her vain reflections, heating 
upon her crystal and pure mirror from the fancies 
of strength and beauty, and little decayed pretti¬ 
nesses of the body. And when in sickness we forget 
all our knotty discourses of philosophy, and a syl¬ 
logism makes our head ache, and we feel our many 
and loud talkings served no lasting end of the soul, 
no purpose that now we must abide by, and that 
the body is like to descend to the land where all 
things are forgotten; then she lays aside all her 
remembrances of applauses, all her ignorant con¬ 
fidences, and cares only to know Christ Jesus and 


Sect. 6.J 


IMP A TIEN CE. 


117 


him crucified, to know him plainly, and with much 
Heartiness and simplicity. TtncTl cannot think this 
to be a contemptible advantage. For ever since 
man tempted himself by his impatient desires of 
knowing and being as God, man thinks it the finest 
thing in the world to know much, and therefore 
is hugely apt to esteem himself better than his 
brethren, if he knows some little impertinences, and 
them imperfectly, and that with infinite uncertainty. 
But God hath been pleased with a rare art to pre¬ 
vent the inconveniences apt to arise by this pas¬ 
sionate longing after knowledge ; even by giving to 
every man a sufficient opinion of his own under¬ 
standing : and who is there in the world that thinks 
himself to be a fool, or indeed not fit to govern his 
brother? There are but few men but they think 
they are wise enough, and every man believes his 
own opinion the soundest; and if it were other¬ 
wise, men would burst themselves with envy, or 
else become irrecoverable slaves to the talking and 
disputing man. But when God intended this per¬ 
mission to be an antidote of envy, and a satisfaction 
and allay to the troublesome appetites of knowing, 
and made that this universal opinion, by making 
men in some proportions equal, should be a keeper 
out, or a great restraint, to slavery and tyranny 
respectively; man (for so he uses to do) hath 
turned this into bitterness: for when nature had 
made so just a distribution of understanding, that 
every man might think he had enough, he is not 


118 


REMEDIES A GA INS T 


[Cii. III. 


content with that, but will think lie hath more than 
his brother: and whereas it might be well employed 
in restraining slavery, he hath used it to break off 
the bands of all obedience, and it ends in pride and 
schisms, in heresies and tyrannies; and it being a 
spiritual evil, it grows upon the soul with old age 
and flattery, with health and the supports of a pros¬ 
perous fortune. Now besides the direct operations 
of the Spirit, and a powerful grace, there is in 
nature left to us no remedy for this evil but a 
sharp sickness, or an equal sorrow, and allay of 
fortune: and then we are humble enough to ask 
counsel of a despised priest, and to think that even 
a common sentence from the mouth of an appointed 
comforter streams forth more refreshment than all 
our own wiser and more reputed discourses : then 


our understandings and our bod¬ 
ies, peeping through their own 
breaches, see their shame and 
their dishonor, their dangerous 
follies and their huge deceptions, 


-Ubi jam validis quassa- 

tum est viribus a;vi 


Corporis, et obtusis cecide- 
runt viribus artus, 


Claudicat ingenium, delirat 
linguaque mensque. 


Lucret. iii. 452. 


and they go into the clefts of the rock, and every 
little hand may cover them. 

3. Next to these, as the soul is still undressing , 
she takes off the roughness of her great and little 
angers and animosities, and receives the oil of mer¬ 
cies and smooth forgiveness, fair interpretations and 
gentle answers, designs of reconcilement and Chris¬ 
tian atonement, in their places. For so did the 
wrestlers in Olympus: they stripped themselves of 


Sect. 6.] 


I MPA TIEN CE. 


119 


fill their garments, and then anointed their naked 
bodies with oil smooth and vigorous : with con- 
tracted nerves and enlarged voice they contended 
vehemently, till they obtained their victory or their 
ease ; and a crown of olive, or a huge pity, was the 
reward of their fierce contentions. Some wise men 
have said, that anger sticks to a 

, . -Quatennsexcidipenitus 

man s nature as inseparably as vitium ir®, 

. . .. . Coetcraitem nequeuntstultis 

other vices do to the manners h®rentia. 

r* i -l.t . • Hor. Sat. i* 3* /G. 

ot tools, and that anger is never 
quite cured: but God, that hath found out remedies 
for all diseases, hath so ordered the circumstances 
of man, that in the worser sort of men, anger and 
great indignation consume and shrivel ’ into little 
peevishnesses, and uneasy accents of sickness, and 
spend themselves in trifling instances; and in the 
better and more sanctified, it goes off in prayers, 
and alms, and solemn reconcilement. And how¬ 
ever, the temptations of this state, such I mean 
which are proper to it, are little and inconsiderable ; 
the man is apt to chide a servant too bitterly, and 
to be discontented with his nurse, or not satisfied 
with his physician, and he rests uneasily, and, poor 
man! nothing can please him: and indeed these 
little indecencies must be cured and stopped, lest 
they run into an inconvenience. But sickness is in 
this particular a little image of the state of blessed 
souls, or of Adam’s early morning in paradise, free 
from the troubles of lust, and violences of anger, 
and the intricacies of ambition, or the restlessness 


120 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch. III. 


of covetousness. For though a man may carry all 
these along with him into his sickness, yet there he 
will not find them; and in despite all his own 
malice, his soul shall find some rest from laboring 
in the galleys and baser captivity of sin: and if we 
value those moments of being in the love of God 
and in the kingdom of grace, which certainly are 
the beginnings of felicity, we may also remember 
that the not sinning actually is one step of inno- 
cency; and therefore this state is not intolerable, 
which by a sensible trouble makes it in most in¬ 
stances impossible to commit those great sins which 
make death, hell, and horrid damnations. And then 
let us but add this to it, that God sends sicknesses, 
but he never causes sin ; that God is angry with 
a sinning person, but never with a man for being 
sick; that sin causes God to hate us, and sickness 
causes him to pity us ; that all wise men in the 
world choose trouble rather than dishonor, affliction 
rather than baseness ; and that sickness stops the 
torrent of sin, and interrupts its violence, and even 
to the worst men makes it to retreat many degrees. 
We may reckon sickness amongst good things, as 
we reckon rhubarb, and aloes, and childbirth, and 
labor, and obedience, and discipline : these are un¬ 
pleasant, and yet safe ; they are troubles in .order 
to blessings, or they are securities from danger, 
or the hard choices of a less and a more tolerable 
evil. 

4. Sickness is in some sense eligible, because it 


Sect. 6.] 


IMP A TIEN CE. 


121 


is the opportunity and the proper scene of exercis- 
ing * some virtues: it is that . n„i„ qu ,«u, lr ,i„ , c - 
agony in which men are tried N ”S tori . mlplacot[ , mt „. 
for a crown. And if we remera- retron. sat. e. is. 

her what glorious things are spoken of the grace of 
faith , that it is the life of just men, the restitution 
of the dead in trespasses and sins, the justification of 
sinners, the support of the weak, the confidence of 
the strong, the magazine of promises, and the title 
to very glorious rewards; we may easily imagine 
that it must have in it a work and a difficulty in 
some proportion answerable to so great effects. 
But when we are bidden to believe strange propo¬ 
sitions, we are put upon it when we cannot judge, 
and those propositions have possessed our discern¬ 
ing faculties, and have made a party there, and are 
become domestic before they came to be disputed; 
and then the articles of faith are so few, and are 
made so credible, and in their event and in their 
object are so useful and gaining upon the affections, 
that he were a prodigy of man, and would be so 
esteemed, that should in all our present circum¬ 
stances disbelieve any point of faith: and all is well 
as long as the sun shines, and the fair breath of 
heaven gently wafts us to our own purposes. But if 
you will try the excellency, and feel the work of 
faith, place the man in a persecution, let him ride in 
a storm, let his bones be broken with sorrow, and his 
eyelids loosed with sickness, let his bread be dipped 
with tears, and all the daughters of music be brought 
6 


122 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Cn. III. 


low; let God commence a quarrel against him, and 
be bitter in the accents of his anger or his dis¬ 
cipline : then God tries your faith. Can you then 
trust his goodness, and believe him to be a Father, 
when you groan under his rod ? Can you rely 
upon all the strange propositions of Scripture, and 
be content to perish if they be not true ? Can 
you receive comfort in the discourses of death and 
heaven, of immortality and the resurrection, of the 
death of Christ and conforming to his sufferings ? 
Truth is, there are but two great periods in which 
faith demonstrates itself to be a powerful and 
mighty grace ; and they are persecution and the 
approaches of death for the passive part , and a temp¬ 
tation for the active. In the days of pleasure, and 
the night of pain, faith is to fight her agonisticon , 
to contend for mastery: and faith overcomes all 
alluring and fond temptations to sin, and faith over¬ 
comes all our weaknesses and faintings in our 
troubles. By the faith of the promises we learn 
to despise the world, choosing those objects which 
faith discovers; and by expectations of the same 
promises we are comforted in all our sorrows, and 
enabled to look through and see beyond the cloud: 
but the vigor of it is pressed and called forth, when 

all our fine discourses come to 

Mors ipsa beatior inde est, 

Quod per cruciamina lethi be reduced to practice. For in 

Via panditur ardua justis, 

Et ad astra doioribus itur. our health and clearer days it 

Prud. Cathem. x. 8D. 

is easy to talk of putting trust 
in God; we readily trust him for life when we are 


Sect. 6.] 


IMP A TIEN CE. 


123 


in health, for provisions when we have fair reve¬ 
nues, and for deliverance when we are newly 
escaped: but let us come to sit upon the margin 
of our grave, and let a tyrant lean hard upon our 
fortunes, and dwell upon our wrong; let the storm 
arise, and the keels toss till the cordage crack, or 
that all our hopes bulge under us, and descend into 
the hollowness of sad misfortunes ; then can you 
believe, when you neither hear, nor see, nor feel 
anything but objections ? This is the proper work 
of sickness: faith is then brought into the theatre, 
and so exercised, that if it abides but to the end 
of the contention, we may see that work of faith 
which God will hugely crown. The same I say 
of hope , and of charity , or the 

1 , Virtutes avidaj periculi mon- 

love of God , and of patience, strantquamnon pccniteattan- 

J to pretio sestimasse virtutem. 

which is a grace produced from see sen. dc rrov. c. 3, 

the mixtures of all these: they 
* 

are virtues which are greedy of danger . And no 
man was ever honored by any wise or discerning 
person for dining upon Persian carpets, nor re¬ 
warded With a CrOWn foi being Non cnim hilaritate, nec 

at ease. It was the fire that 
did honor to Mutius Scasvola, 
poverty made Fabricius famous, Cic - Dc Fin - iL 20 ‘ 
Rutilius was made excellent by banishment, Regu- 
lus by torments, Socrates by prison, Cato by his 
death: and God hath crowned the memory of Job 
with a wreath of glory, because he sat upon his 
dunghill wisely and temperately; and his potsherd 


124 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch. III. 


and his groans, mingled with praises and justifica¬ 
tions of God, pleased him like an anthem sung by 
angels in the morning of the resurrection. God 
could not choose but be pleased with the delicious 
accents of martyrs, when in their tortures they cried 
out nothing but Holy Jesus and Blessed be God; 
and they also themselves who with a hearty resig¬ 
nation to the divine pleasure can delight in God’s 
severe dispensation, will have the transportations 
of cherubim when they enter into the joys of God. 
If God be delicious to his servants when he smites 
them, he will be nothing but ravishment and ecsta¬ 
sies to their spirits when he refreshes them with 

Nihil infeliciuseocui nihil fhe Overflowings of JOJ ill the 

of recompenses. No man 
Sen. De Prov. c. 3, § 3 . ^ more miserable than he that 

hath no adversity; that man is not tried whether 
he be good or bad: and God never crowns those 
virtues which are only faculties and dispositions ; 
but every act of virtue is an ingredient into reward. 
And we see many children fairly planted, whose 
parts of nature were never dressed by art, nor 
called from the furrows of their first possibilities 
by discipline and institution, and they dwell for 
ever in ignorance, and converse with beasts; and 
yet if they had been dressed and exercised, might 
have stood at the chairs of princes, or spoken par¬ 
ables amongst the rulers of cities. Our virtues are 
but in the seed when the grace of God comes upon 
us first: but this grace must be thrown into broken 


Sect. 6.] 


IMPATIENCE. 


125 


furrows, and must twice feel the cold , and twice feel 
the heat , and be softened with 

Ilia seges demum votis re- 

storms and showers, and then spondet avari 

. ..... /••pi i Agricolae, bis quae solem, bis 

it will arise into fruitfulness and irigora sensit. 
harvests. And what is there in V ir ° Ge01 °' 
the world to distinguish virtues from dishonors, or 
the valor of Caesar from the softness of the Egyp¬ 
tian eunuchs, or that can make anything rewardable 
but the labor and the danger, the pain and the diffi¬ 
culty ? Virtue could not be anything but sensuality 
if it were the entertainment of our senses and fond 
desires; and Apicius had been the noblest of all 
the Romans, if feeding a great appetite and despis¬ 
ing the severities of temperance had been the work 
and proper employment of a wise man. But other¬ 
wise do fathers and otherwise do mothers handle 
their children. These soften them with kisses and 
imperfect noises, with the pap and breast-milk of 
soft endearments; they rescue them from tutors 
and snatch them from discipline; they desire to 
keep them fat and warm, and 

Languent per inertiam sa- 

tlieir feet dry, and their bellies ginata, nec labore tantum, 

sed motu et ipso sui ouere 

full: and then the children gov- deficiunt. 

. /• i Sen. De Prov. c. 2, § 4. 

era, and cry, and prove fools 

and troublesome, so long as the feminine republic 

does endure. But fathers, be- caiium perinjuriasducit. 
cause they design to have their sen. De 1 / 0 ^ 2 , § 4 . 

children wise and valiant, apt ccei^JpadenslauL 11 ' 11 '* 
for counsel or for arms, send Hor ’ Carm ’“• la 19- 
them to severe governments, and tie them to study 


126 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch. III. 


to hard labor, and afflictive contingencies. They 
rejoice when the bold boy strikes a lion with his 

Modestia fiiiorum deiec- hunting-spear, and shrinks not 

tantur; vernularum licentia w } ien t) eas t COllieS to affright 
et canum, non puerorum. & 

See Sen. De Prov. c. 1, § 4. pjg ear Jy COUrage. Softness is 

for slaves and beasts, for minstrels and useless per¬ 
sons, for such who cannot ascend higher than the 
state of a fair ox, or a servant entertained for vainer 
offices: but the man that designs his son for nobler 
employments, to honors and to triumphs, to con¬ 
sular dignities and presidencies of councils, loves 
to see him pale with study, or panting with labor, 
hardened with sufferance, or eminent by dangers. 
And so God dresses us for heaven. He loves to 
see us struggling with a disease, and resisting the 
Devil, and contesting against the weaknesses of 
nature, and against hope to believe in hope , resign¬ 
ing ourselves to God’s will, praying him to choose j 
for us, and dying in all things but faith and its 
blessed consequents; ut ad ojfcium cum periculo 
simus prompti; and the danger and the resistance 

shall endear the office. For so 

Ventus ut amittit vires, nisi 

robore densas have I known the boisterous 

Occurrant sylvae, spatio dif- 

fususinani. north wind pass through the 

Lucan, iii. 362. . . .. . ... , . 

yielding air, which opened its 
bosom, and appeased its violence by entertaining 
Marcetsine advcrsariovir- it with easy compliance in all 

tus. — Sen. De Prov. c. 2, S3. .l, __• n .. , }• — 

the regions of its reception : but 
when the same breath of heaven hath been checked 
with the stiffness of a tower, or the united strength 



Sect. 6.] 


IMPATIENCE. 


127 


of a wood, it grew mighty and dwelt there, and 
made the highest branches stoop, and make a 
smooth path for it on the top of all its glories. 
So is sickness, and so is the grace of God : when 
sickness hath made the difficulty, then God’s grace 
hath made a triumph, and by doubling its power 
hath created new proportions of a reward ; and 
then shows its biggest glory when it hath the 
greatest difficulty to master, the greatest weak¬ 
nesses to support, the most busy temptations to 
contest with : for so God loves 

LastiMS cst quoties magno 

that his strength should he seen siw constat honestum. 

. Lucan, ix. 403. 

in our weakness and our danger. 

Happy is that state of life in which our services to 
God are the dearest and the most expensive. 

5. Sickness hath some degrees of eligibility, at 
least by an after-choice; because to all persons 
which are within the possibilities and state of par¬ 
don, it becomes a great instrument of pardon of 
sins. For as God seldom rewards here and here¬ 
after too, so it is not very often that he punishes in 
both states. In great and final sins he doth so; 
but we find it expressed only in the case of the sin 
against the Holy Ghost, which shall never he for¬ 
given in this world nor in the world to come ; that 
is, it shall be punished in both worlds, and the in¬ 
felicities of this world shall but usher in the intoler- 
able calamities of the next. But this is in the case 
of extremity, and in sins of an unpardonable malice. 
In those lesser stages of death which are deviations 


128 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Cn. III. 


Psal. 89. 32, 33. 


ICor. 5. 5. 1 Tim. 1.20. 


from the rule, and not a destruction and perfect 
antinomy to the whole institution, God very often 
smites with the rod of sickness, that he may not 
for ever be slaying the soul with eternal death. 

I will visit their offences with the 
rod, and their sin with scourges: 
Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will / not utterly 
take from him , nor suffer my truth to fail. And 

there is in the New Testament 
a delivering over to Sedan, and) 
a consequent buffeting, for the mortification of the | 
flesh indeed, but that the sold, may be saved in the ( 
day of the Lord. And to some persons the utmost J 
process of God’s anger reaches but to a sharp sick¬ 
ness, or at most but to a temporal death ; and then 
the little momentary anger is spent, and expires in 
rest and a quiet grave. Origen, St. Augustine, and 
Digni crantin hoc saecuio Cassian say concerning Ananias 

recipere pcccatum suum, ut _ ~ 

mundiores exeunt ab hac and Sapphira, that they were 

vita, mundati castigatione ... . . ... . . 

sibi illata per mortem com- Slill 11 With a SllddCll death, that 
munem, quoniam credentcs ■. , . 

erant in Christum.—Grig, by such a judgment their sin 

— s. Aug. Contra Parmen. might be punished, and then 
in. i. - cassian. Coii. v i. n. guilt expiated, and their per¬ 
sons reserved for mercy in the day of judgment. 
And God cuts off many of his children from the 
land of the living ; and yet when they are num¬ 
bered amongst our dead, he finds them*in the book 
of life, written amongst those that shall live to him 
for ever. And thus it happened to many new 
Christians in the church of Corinth, for their little 


Sect. 6.] 


IMPATIENCE. 


129 


undecencies and disorders in tlie circumstances of 
receiving the holy sacrament. St. Paul says that 
many amongst them were sick, 

17 7 1 Cor. 11.30. 

many were iveak, and some ivere 
fallen asleep. Ide expresses the divine anger against 
those persons in no louder accents ; which is accord¬ 
ing to the style of the New Testament, where all the 
great transactions of duty and reproof are generally 
made upon the stock of heaven, and hell is plainly 
a reserve, and a period set to the declaration of 
God’s wrath. (For God knows that the torments 
of hell are so horrid, so insupportable a calamity, 
that he is not easy and apt to cast those souls, which 
he hath taken so much care and hath been at so 
much expense to save, into the eternal never-dying 
flames of hell, lightly, for smaller sins, or after a 
fairly-begun repentance, and in the midst of holy 
desires to finish it. But God takes such penalties 
and exacts such fines of us, which we may pay salvo 
contenemento , saving the main stake of all, even our 
precious souls. And therefore St. Augustine prayed 
to God in his penitential sorrows, Here , 0 Lord , 
hum and cut my flesh , that thou mayest spare me for 
ever.) For so said our blessed Saviour, Every sacri- 
fice must he seasoned with salt , and every sacrifice 
must he burnt withfire ; that is, we must abide in 
the state of grace, and if we have committed sins, 
we must expect to be put into the state of affliction; 
and yet the sacrifice will send up a right and un¬ 
troubled cloud, and a sweet smell to join with the 


130 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch. HI. 


incense of the altar where the Eternal Priest offers 
a never-ceasing sacrifice. And now I have said a 
thing against which there can be no exception's, and 
of which no just reason can make abatement. For 
when sickness, which is the condition of our nature, 
is called for with purposes of redemption; when we 
are sent to death to secure eternal life ; when God 
strikes us that he may spare us, it shows that we 
have done things which he essentially hates, and 
therefore we must be smitten with the rod of God: 
but in the midst of judgment God remembers mercy, 
and makes the rod to be medicinal, and like the 
rod of God in the hand of Aaron to shoot forth 
buds and leaves and almonds, hopes and mercies, 
and eternal recompenses in the day of restitution. 
This is so great a good to us, if it will be well con¬ 
ducted in all the channels of its intention and design, 
that if we had put off the objections of the flesh, 
with abstractions, contempts, and separations, so as 
we ought to do, it were as earnestly to be prayed 
for as any gay blessing that crowns our cups with 
joy, and our heads with garlands and forgetfulness. 
But this was it which I said, that this may, nay that 
it ought to be chosen, at least by an after-election ; 
for so said St. Paul, If we judge ourselves we shall 
not he condemned of the Lord, that is, if we judge 
ourselves worthy of the sickness, if we acknowledge 
and confess God’s justice in smiting us, if we take 
the rod of God in our own hands, and are willing 
to imprint it in the flesh, we are workers together 


Sect. 6.] 


IMPATIENCE. 


131 


with God in the infliction; and then the sickness, 
beginning and being managed in the virtue of re- 
pentance, and patience, and resignation, and charity, 
will end in peace, and pardon, and justification, and 
consignation to glory. That I have spoken truth, 
I have brought God’s Spirit speaking in Scripture 
for a witness. But if this be true, there are not 
many states of life that have 

J Deut.34.5. 

advantages which can outweigh 
this great instrument of security to our final condi¬ 
tion. Moses died at the mouth of the Lord , said the 
story ; he died with the kisses of the Lord's mouth , so 
the Chaldee Paraphrase: it was the greatest act 
of kindness that God did to his servant Moses; he 
kissed him and he died. But I have some things 
to observe for the better finishing this considera¬ 
tion. 

1. All these advantages and lessenings of evils 
in the state of sickness are only upon the stock of 
virtue and religion. „ There is nothing can make 

sicknebS in anj Sense eligible, jj,g C clementia non paratui 

or in many senses tolciable, but g ec j norun t CU i serviunt 

only the grace of God: that u ' ,n Z„. 

only turns sickness into easi- Si latus aut rencs morbo ten- 

•' . i-ii tantur acuto, 

neSS and felicity which also Qu*re fii"am morbi. Vis 

. . , „ . recte vivere: quis non ? 

tlirnS it into virtue. for who- Si virtus hoc unapotest dare, 
. r. , fortis omissis 

soever goes about to comlort Hoc a ge deiiciis. 

. . T it Hor. Epist. i. 6.28. 

a vicious person when he lies 
sick upon his bed, can only discourse of the neces¬ 
sities of nature, of the unavoidableness of the suf- 


132 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch. III. 


fering, of the accidental vexations and increase of 
torments by impatience, of the fellowship of all the 
sons of Adam, and such other little considerations; 
which indeed, if sadly reflected upon, and found to 
stand alone, teach him nothing but the degree of 
his calamity, and the evil of his condition, and teach 
him such a patience and minister to him such a 
comfort which can only make him to observe decent 
gestures in his sickness, and to converse with his 
friends and standers-by so as may do them comfort, 
and ease their funeral and civil complaints, but 
do him no true advantages. For all that may be 
spoken to a beast when he is crowned with hair 
laces, and bound with fillets to the altar, to bleed 
to death to appease the anger of the deity, and to 
ease the burden of his relatives. And indeed what 
comfort can he receive, whose sickness, as it looks 
back, is an effect of God’s indignation and fierce 
vengeance, and if it goes forward, and enters into 
the gates of the grave, is a beginning of a sorrow 
that shall never have an ending ? But when the 
sickness is a messenger sent from a chastising 
Father ; when it first turns into decrees of inno- 
cence, and then into virtues, and thence into par¬ 
don ; this is no misery, but such a method of the 
divine economy and dispensation as resolves to 
bring us to heaven without any new impositions, 
but merely upon the stock and charges of nature. 

2. Let it be observed, that these advantages which 
spring from sickness are not in all instances of virtue, 


Sect. 6.] 


IMPATIENCE . 


133 


nor to all persons. Sickness is the proper scene of 
patience and resignation, for all the passive graces 
of a Christian, for faith and hope, and for some 
single acts of the love of God. But sickness is not 
a Jit station for a penitent; and it can serve the 
ends of the grace of repentance but accidentally . 
Sickness may * begin a repent- 

. * Nec tamen putaverant ad 

ance, if God continues life, and rem pertinere ubi inciperent, 

. „ . quod placuerat ut fleret. 

it we co-operate with the divine 
grace ; or sickness may help to alleviate the wrath 
of God, and to facilitate the pardon, if all the other 
parts of this duty be performed in our healthful 
state, so that it may serve at the entrance in, or at 
the going out. But sickness at no hand is a good 
stage to represent all the substantial parts of this 
duty. 1. It invites to it; 2. It makes it appear 
necessary ; 3. It takes off the fancies of vanity ; 4. 
It attempers the spirit; 5. It cures hypocrisy; G. 
It tames the fumes of pride; 7. It is the school of 
patience; 8. And by taking us from off the brisker 
relishes of the world, it makes us with more gust to 
taste the things of the Spirit: and all this, only 
when God fits the circumstances of the sickness so 
as to consist with acts of reason, consideration, 
choice, and a present and reflecting mind ; which 
then God sends when he means that the sickness 
of the body should be the cure of the soul. But 
let no man rely upon it as by design, to trust the 
beginning, the progress, and the consummation of 
our piety to such an estate which for ever leaves it 



134 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch. III. 


unperfect. And though to some persons it adds 
degrees, and ministers opportunities, and exercises 
single acts with great advantage, in passive graces; 
yet it is never an entire or sufficient instrument for 
the change of our condition from the state of death 
to the liberty and life of the sons of God. 

3. It were good if we would transact the affairs 
of our souls with nobleness and ingenuity, and that 
we would by an early and forward religion prevent 
the necessary arts of the divine providence. It is 
true that God cures some by incision, by fire and 
torments ; but these are ever the more obstinate 
and more unrelenting natures. God’s providence 
is not so afflictive and full of trouble as that it hath 
placed sickness and infirmity amongst things simply 
Nequetamaversaunquam necessary; and in most persons 




nate virtue which is imprinted 


upon our spirits with fears, and the sorrows of a 
fever, or a peevish consumption. It is but a mis¬ 
erable remedy to be beholden to a sickness for our 
health: and though it be better to suffer the loss 
of a finger, than that the arm and the whole body 
should putrefy; yet even then also it is a trouble 
and an evil to lose a finger. He that mends with 
sickness pares the nails of the beast when they 
have already torn off some of the flesh: but he that 
would have a sickness become a clear and an entire 
blessing, a thing indeed to be reckoned among the 
good things of God, and the evil things of the 


Sect. 6.] 


IMP A TIENCE. 


135 


world, must lead a holy life, and judge himself with 
an early sentence, and so order the affairs of his 
soul, that in the usual method of God’s saving us 
there may be nothing left to be done, but that such 
virtues should be exercised which God intends to 
crown : and then, as when the Athenians, upon a 
day of battle, with longing and uncertain souls 
sitting in their common hall, expecting what would 
be the sentence of the day, at last received a mes¬ 
senger who only had breath enough left him to say, 
We are conquerors, and so died ; so shall the sick 
person w ho hath fought a good fight, and kept the 
faith, and only waits for his dissolution and his 
sentence, breathe forth his spirit with the accents 
of a conqueror, and his sickness and his death shall 
only make the mercy and the virtue more illus¬ 
trious. 

But for the sickness itself, if all the calumnies 
were true concerning it with which it is aspersed, 
yet it is far to be preferred before the most pleasant 
sin, and before a great secular business and a tem¬ 
poral care: and some men w r ake as much in the 
foldings of the softest beds, as others on the cross: 
and sometimes the very weight of sorrow and the 
weariness of a sickness presses the spirit into slum¬ 
bers and the images of rest, when the intemperate 
or the lustful person rolls upon his uneasy thorns, 

and sleep IS depaitcd from his Detestabilis erit caecitas, si 

eyes. Certain it is, some sick- 

ness is a blessing. Indeed, blind- Sen ’ De 1>rov ‘ c ‘ 5 ’ § L 


136 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch. III. 


ness were a most cursed thing, if no man were ever 
blind but he whose eyes were pulled out with tor¬ 
tures or burning basins : and if sickness w r ere al- 
ways a testimony of God’s anger, and a violence 
to a man’s whole condition, then it were a huge 
calamity. But because God sends it to his ser¬ 
vants, to his children, to little infants, to apostles 
and saints, with designs of mercy, to preserve their 
innocence, to overcome temptation, to try their vir¬ 
tue, to fit them for rewards, it is certain that sick¬ 
ness never is an evil but by our own faults ; and 
if we will do our duty, w r e shall be sure to turn it 

into a blessing. If the sickness 

Memincris ergo maximos 0 

doiores morte finiri, parvoa be great, it may end in death, 

multa habere intervalla re- ... 

quietis, mediocrinm nos esse and til€3 greater it IS the SOOliei' j 

dominos. — Cic. De Fin. i. 15. , .~ . .. , . , . 

and it it be very little, it hath 
great intervals of rest: if it be between both, we 
may be masters of it, and by serving the ends of 
Providence, serve also the perfective end of human 
nature, and enter into the possession of everlasting 
mercies. 

The sum is this : he that is afraid of pain is 
afraid of his own nature; and if his fear be violent, 
it is a sign his patience is none at all, and an im¬ 
patient person is not ready dressed for heaven. 
None but suffering, humble and patient persons 
can go to heaven; and when God hath given us 
the whole stage of our life to exercise all the active 
virtues of religion, it is necessary in the state of 
virtues that some portion and period of our lives be 


Sect. 7.] 


IMPATIENCE. 


137 


assigned to passive graces; for patience, for Chris¬ 
tian fortitude, for resignation or conformity to the 
divine will. But as the violent fear of sickness 
makes us impatient, so it will make our death with¬ 
out comfort and without religion: and we shall go 
off from our stage of actions and sufferings with an 
unhandsome exit, because we were willing to re¬ 
ceive the kindness of God when he expressed it as 
we listed; but we would not suffer him to be kind 
and gracious to us in his own method, nor were 
willing to exercise and improve our virtues at the 
charge of a sharp fever, or a lingering consump¬ 
tion. Woe be to the man that 

Ecclu8. 2.14. 

hath lost 'patience ; for what 

will he do when the Lord shall visit him ? 

Sect. VII. — The second Temptation proper to 
the state of Sickness , Fear of Death , with its 
Remedies . 

HERE is i which can make sickness 




JL unsanctified, but the same also will give us 
cause to fear death. If therefore we so order our 
affairs and spirits, that we do not fear death, our 
sickness may easily become our advantage, and we 
can then receive counsel, and consider, and do those 
acts of virtue which are in that state the proper 
services of God; and such which men in bondage 
and fear are not capable of doing, or of advices how 
they should, when they come to the appointed days 



138 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch. III. 


of mourning. And indeed if men would but place 
their design of being happy in the nobleness, cour¬ 
age, and perfect resolutions of doing handsome 
things, and passing through our unavoidable neces¬ 
sities in the contempt and despite of the things of 
this world, and in holy living, and the perfective 
desires of our natures, the longings and pursuances 
after heaven, it is certain they could not be made 
miserable by chance and change, by sickness and 
death. But we are so softened and made effemi¬ 
nate with delicate thoughts and meditations of ease. 


and brutish satisfactions, that if our death comes 
before we have seized upon a great fortune, or 
enjoy the promises of the fortune-tellers, we esteem 
ourselves to be robbed of our goods, to be mocked, 
and miserable. Hence it comes that men are im¬ 
patient of the thoughts of death ; hence come those 

arts of protraction and delaying 
the significations of old age : 
thinking to deceive the world, 
men cozen themselves, and by 
representing themselves youth¬ 
ful, they certainly continue their 
vanity, till Proserpina pulls the peruke from their 
heads. We cannot deceive God and nature, for a 
coffin is a coffin, though it be covered with a pom¬ 
pous veil; and the minutes of our time strike on, 
and are counted by angels, till the period comes 
which must cause the passing-bell to give warning 
to all the neighbors that thou art dead, and they 


Mentiris juvenem tinctis, 
Lentine, capillis. 

Tam subito corvus, qui 
modo cygnus eras. 

Non oranes fallis, scit te Pro¬ 
serpina canum; 

Personam capiti detrahet 
ilia tuo. 

Mart. Epig. iii. 43. 


Sect. 7.] 


FEAR OF DEATH. 


139 




must be so; and nothing can excuse or retard this. 
And if our death could be put off a little longer, 
what advantage can it be in thy accounts of nature 
or felicity ? They that three thousand years agone 
died unwillingly, and stopped death two days, or 
stayed it a week, what is their gain ? where is that 
Week? And poor-spirited men Audit iter, numeratque dies, 
use arts ot protraction, and make Metitur vitam ; torquetur 

,, . ... ■] , i i • morte futura. 

then* persons pitiable, but their ciaud. inRufin.\\. 137 . 
condition contemptible, being Tt 0 p otwi ' <a> v 
like the poor sinners at Noah’s Q^a-Keiv 6 toO 

flood : the waters drove them xp0l0!J sfp^jztuss! 

Out of their lower rooms, then Nihil est miseriua dubita- 

7 none volutantium quorsura 

they crept up to the roof, hav- ev adant, quantum sit illud 

^ A A quod restat, aut quale. 

ing lasted half a day longer, sen. Ep. ci. 8. 

and then they knew not how to get down: some 
crept upon the top branch of a tree, and some 
climbed up to a mountain, and stayed, it may be, 
three days longer ; but all that while they endured 
a worse torment than death: they lived with amaze¬ 
ment, and were distracted with the ruins of man¬ 
kind, and the horror of an universal deluge. 


Remedies against the Fear of Death , by way of 

consideration. 

1. God having in this world placed 11 s in a sea, 
and troubled the sea with a continual storm, hath 
appointed the Church for a ship, and religion to be 
the stern ; but there is no haven or port but death. 



140 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch III. 


Death is that harbor whither God hath designed 
every one, that there he may find rest from the 
troubles of the world. ITow many of the noblest 
Romans have taken death for sanctuary, and have 
esteemed it less than shame or a mean dishonor! 

And Ctesar was cruel to Domi- 

-Heu, quanto melius vel . . 

ca;de peracta tius, captain ot Lorfimum, when 

Parcere Romano potuit for- , . . . . _ , . 

tuna pudori? he had taken the town trom lnm, 

XjUCtin* ii* 51/ • * i i • i • • 

that he refused to sign Ins peti¬ 
tion of death. Death would have hid his head with 
honor, but that cruel mercy reserved him to the 
shame of surviving his disgrace. The holy Scrip¬ 
ture, giving an account of the reasons of the divine 
Providence taking godly men from this world, and 
shutting them up in a hasty grave, says that they 
are taken from the evils to come: and concerning 
ourselves it is certain, if we had ten years agone 
taken seizure of our portion of dust, death had not 
taken us from good things, but from infinite evils, 
such which the sun hath seldom seen. Did not 

Priamus weep oftener than Tro- 

Hsec omnia vidit inflam- 

mari, jovis aram sanguine ilus ? and happy had he been if 

turpari. — Cic. Tusc. i. 35. 

he had died when Ins sons were 
living, and his kingdom safe, and houses full, and 

his city unburnt. It was a long 

-Sic longius asvum ^ ~ 

Destmit ingentes animos, et life that made him miserable, 

vita superstes 

imperio: nisi summa dies and an early death only could 

cum fine bonorum J 

Adfuit, ct ceieri praevertit have secured his fortune. And 

tristia lcto. , • 

Dedecori est fortune prior, it iiutii n&ppened many times 

Lucan, via. 27. ,, , /» 

that persons of a fair life anq 



Sect. 7.] 


FEAR OF DEATH. 


141 


a clear reputation, of a good fortune and an honor¬ 
able name, have been tempted in their age to folly 
and vanity, have fallen under the disgrace of dot¬ 
age, or into an unfortunate marriage, or have be¬ 
sotted themselves with drinking, or outlived their 
fortunes, or become tedious to their friends, or are 
afflicted with lingering and vexatious diseases, or 
lived to see their excellent parts buried, and cannot 
understand the wise discourses and productions of 
their younger years. In all 

. . Mors illi melius quam tu 

these cases, and infinite more, consuiuit quidem. 

.. .. . .. Comicusap. Plut. Cons. 

do not all the world say that adApoi.p.noe. 
it had been better this man had —Quisquamne secundis 

Tradere se fatis audet, nisi 

died sooner ? But so have I morte P arata? 

Lucan, viii. 31. 

known passionate women to 
shriek aloud when their nearest relatives were 
dying, and that horrid shriek hath stayed the 
spirit of the man awhile to wonder at the folly 
and represent the inconvenience ; and the dying 
person hath lived one day longer full of pain, 
amazed with an undeterminate spirit, distorted with 
convulsions, and only come again to act one scene 
more of a new calamity, and to die with less de¬ 
cency. So also do very many men; with passion 
and a troubled interest they strive to continue their 
life longer; and it may be they escape this sick¬ 
ness, and live to fall into a disgrace; they escape 
the storm, and fall into the hands of pirates, and 
instead of dying with liberty, they live like slaves, 
miserable and despised, servants to a little time, 


■ I • 

142 REMEDIES AGAINST j* [Ch. III. 

and sottish admirers of the breach of'their own 
lungs. Paul us .iEmilius did handsomely reprove 
the cowardice of the king of Macedon, who begged 

of him for pity’s sake and hu- 

Plut. ; Em. Paul. c. 34. .... 

mamty, that having conquered 
him and taken his kingdom from him, he would be 
content with that, and not lead him in triumph a 
prisoner to Rome. JEmilius told him he need not 
be beholden to him for that; himself might prevent 
that in despite of him. But the timorous king 
durst not die. But certainly every wise man will 
easily believe that it had been better the Mace¬ 
donian kings should have died in battle than pro¬ 
tract their life so long till some of them came to 
be scriveners and joiners at Rome : or that the 
tyrant of Sicily better had perished in the Adriatic 

than to be wafted to Corinth 

Cic. Tusc. iii. 12. 

safely, and there turn school¬ 
master. It is a sad calamity that the fear of death 
shall so imbecile man’s courage and understanding, 
that he dares not suffer the remedy of all his calami- 

_ Nimirum hoc die ties ; but that he lives to say as 

U vrve P ndun V 1 i fu’it mihi quam Liberius did, I have lived this 


Macrob. Saturn, u. 7. om ^ Q y l on g er than I s/lOldd. 

Either therefore let us be willing to die when God 
calls, or let us never more complain of the calami¬ 
ties of our life which we feel so sharp and numer¬ 
ous. And when God sends his angel to us with a 
scroll of death, let us look on it as an act of mercy, 
to prevent many sins, and many calamities of a 


Sect. 7-j 


FEAR OF DEATH. 


143 


longer life, and lay our heads down softly, and go to 
sleep without wrangling like 

, , . 1 r* , Hoc h° mo morte lucratur, 

babies and iroward children, ne malum esset immortale. 

77 r / , 7 ,. . ... Greg. Naz. Orat. xxxviii. 12. 

lor a man {at least) gets this 

by.death, that his calamities are not immortal. 

But I do not only consider death by the advan¬ 
tages of comparison; but if we look on it in itself, 
it is no such formidable thing, if we view it on 
both sides, and handle it, and consider all its ap¬ 
pendages. 

2. It is necessary , and therefore not intolerable: 
and nothing is to be esteemed 

i • i , Nihil in malis ducamus, 

evil Which (jrOd and nature hath quod sit adiis immortalibus 
~ , . . . . T vel a naturaparente omnium 

nxed with eternal sanctions. It constitutum. 

• 7 /» /~y 7 • . • • 7 Cic. Tusc • 1 « 49. 

is a law oj bod , it is a punish¬ 
ment of our sins , and it is the constitution of our 
nature. Two differing substances were joined to¬ 
gether with the breath of God, and when that 
breath is taken away they part 

^ ^ L Concretum fuit, discretum 

asunder, and return to their cst? rcdutque undevencmt, 

. terra deorsum, spiritus sur- 

several principles; the soul to sum. Quid ex his omnibus 

iniquum est? nihil. 

God our 4 ather, the body to Epicharm. ap. riut. com. 

, . 1 ad Apol. p. 110 a. 

the earth our mother : and 
■what in all this is evil ? Surely nothing but that 
w r e are men ; nothing but that we are not born 
immortal: but by declining this change with great 
passion, or receiving it with a huge natural fear, 
w r e accuse the divine Providence of tyranny, and 
exclaim against our natural constitution, and are 
discontent that we are men. 


144 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch. III. 


Cic. Tusc. v. 40. 


3. It is a thing that is no great matter in itself; 
if we consider that we die daily, that it meets us in 
every accident, that every creature carries a dart 
along with it, and can kill us. And therefore when 

Lysimachus threatened Theo¬ 
doras to kill him, he told him 
that was no great matter to do, and he could do no 
more than the cantharides could ; a little . fly could 
do as much. 

4. It is a thing that every one suffers, even per- 

Naturadedit usuramvitas SOnS of the lowest resolution, of 

StSSSqvTer^islrS the meanest virtue, of no breed- 
SnT™cc V e^eL e s acnitncou ' mg, of no discourse. Takeaway 

Sen. [Cic. Tusc. i. 39.J t p e p 0m p S 0 f death, the dis- 

guises and solemn bugbears, the tinsel, and the 
actings by candle-light, and proper and fantastic 
ceremonies, the minstrels and the noise-makers, the 
women and the weepers, the swoonings and the 
shriekings, the nurses and the physicians, the dark 
room and the ministers, the kindred and the watches, 
and then to die is easy, ready, and quitted from its 
troublesome circumstances. It is the same harm¬ 
less thing that a poor shepherd suffered yesterday, 
t .. or a maid-servant to-dav; and 

-Vitae est avidus, « 7 

Quisquis non vuit, mundo a t the same time in which you 

eecum J 


Pereunte, mori. die, in that very niidit a tliou- 

Sen. Thyest. iv. 882. J * 

sand creatures die with you, 
some wise men and many fools ; and the wisdom 
of the first will not quit him, and the folly of the 
latter does not make him unable to die. 


Sect. 7.] 


FEAR OF DEATH. 


145 


5. Of all the evils of the world which are re¬ 

proached with an evil character, death is the most 
innocent of its accusation. For - a - . . - 

Tou? yap Vavovras ov\ opto 

when it is present it hurts no- ^virov^evovs. 

Soph. EL 1170. 

body 9 and wllGll it is QbSGllt} it Par est moriri: neque est 

is indeed troublesome, but the m mahs 

trouble is owing to our fears, riaut. m m. s. 12 . 

not to the affrighting and mistaken object. And 
besides this, if it were an evil, it is so transient that 
it passes like the instant or un- . ^ , ...... 

discerned portion of the present pr»sentu in nia. 

. .. . T , Morsque minus pcen® quam 

time ; and either it is past , or it mora mortis habet. 

. , , 0 . ... Ovid. Heroid. x. 82. 

is not yet; tor just when it is, 

no man hath reason to complain of so insensible, so 

sudden, so undiscerned a change. 

6 . It is so harmless a thing that no good man 
was ever thought the more miserable for dying, but 
much the happier. When men saw the graves of 
Calatinus, of the Servilii, the Scipios, the Metelli, 
did ever any man amongst the wisest Romans think 
them unhappy? And when St. Paul fell under 
the sword of Nero, and St. Peter died upon the 
cross, and St. Stephen from an heap of stones was 
carried into an easier grave, they that made great 
lamentation over them wept for their own interest, 
and after the manner of men ; but the martyrs were 
accounted happy, and their days kept solemnly, and 
their memories preserved in never-dying honors. 
When St. Hilary, bishop of Poictiers in France, 
went into the East to reprove the Arian heresy, 

7 j 


146 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch. III. 


he heard that a young noble gentleman treated 
with his daughter Abra for marriage. The bishop 
wrote to his daughter that she should not engage 
her promise, nor do countenance to that request, 
because he had provided for her a husband fair, 
rich, wise, and noble, far beyond her present offer. 
The event of which was this: she obeyed, and when 
her father returned from his eastern triumph to his 
western charge, he prayed to God that his daughter 
might die quickly: and God heard his prayers, and 
Christ took her into his bosom, entertaining her 
with antepasts and caresses of holy love, till the 
day of the marriage-supper of the Lamb shall come. 
But when the bishop’s wife observed this event, 
and understood of the good man her husband what 
was done, and why, she never let him alone till he 
obtained the same favor for her, and she also at the 
prayers of St. Hilary went into a more early grave 
and a bed of joys. 

7 . It is a sottish and unlearned thing to reckon 
the time of our life, as it is short or long, to be 
good or evil fortune ; life in itself being neither 
good nor bad, but just as we make it, and therefore 
so is death. 

8 . But when we consider, death is not only better 
than a miserable life, not only an easy and an inno¬ 
cent thing in itself, but also that it is a state of ad¬ 
vantage, we shall have reason not to double the 
sharpness of our sickness by our fear of death. 
Certain it is, death hath some good upon its proper 


Sect. 8.] 


FEAR OF DEATH. 


147 


Virtutem incolumem odimus, 
Sublatam ex oculis quaeri- 
mus invidi. 

Hor. Carm. iii. 24. 31. 

Nec laudas nisi mortuos poe- 
tas. — Mart. Epig. viii. 00.2. 


stock ; praise, and a fair memory, a reverence and 
religion toward them so great, 
that it is counted dishonest to 
speak evil of the dead ; then 
they rest in peace, and are 
quiet from their labors, and 
are designed to immortality. Cleobis and Biton 
Trophonius and Agamedes had 
an early death sent them as a 
reward : to the former for their piety to their 
mother, to the latter for building of a temple. 
To this all those arguments will minister which 
relate the advantages of the state of separation 
and resurrection. 


Cic. Tusc. i. 47. 


Sect. VIII. — Remedies against Fear of Death , by 

way of exercise . 

» 

1. TTE that would willingly be fearless of death 
J[ ll must learn to despise the world; he must 
neither love anything passionately, nor be proud of 
anv circumstance of his life. 0 

J t * Ecclus. 41.1. 

death , how bitter is the remem¬ 
brance of thee to a man that liveth at rest in his pos¬ 
sessions, to a man that hath nothing to vex him , and 
that hath prosperity in all things ; yea , unto him that 
is yet able to receive meat! said the son of Sirach. 
But the parts of this exercise help each other. If 
a man be not incorporated in all his passions to the 
things of the world, he will less fear to be divorced 


148 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch. III. 


677 eSeif-ev f3La.v • 

®vara fj.ep.i'dcrOu) 
crreWtov p.e'ATj, 

Kai redevrai' dnaVTOiv 
■yav 67necr(Top.6vos. 

Pind. iV’em. xi. 16. 


from them by a supervening death; and yet because 
, , . he must part with them all in 

Ei fie' ri? oA/3ov e^wv juop- < _ 

<f)dv napafxevcreTaL d\\u)v, death, it is but reasonable he 

should not be passionate for so 
Trept- fugitive and transient interest. 
But if any man thinks well of 
himself for being a handsome 
Die homo, vascincrum, quid person, or if he be stronger and 

confert flos facierum? • ,i -i • 

Copia quid rerum ? mors ul- wiser than hlS lieigllboiS, lie 

tima meta dierum. must remember that what he 

boasts of will decline into weakness and dishonor. 
But that very boasting and complacency will make 
death keener and more unwelcome, because it comes 
to take him from his confidences and pleasures, 
making his beauty equal to those ladies that have 
slept some years in charnel-houses, and their strength 
not so stubborn as the breath of an infant, and their 
wisdom such which can be looked for in the land 
where all things are forgotten. 

2. He that ivould not fear death must strengthen 
his spirit with the proper instruments of Christian 
fortitude. All men are resolved upon this, to bear 
grief honestly and temperately ; and to die willingly 

and nobly is the duty of a good 
and of a valiant man: and they 
that are not so are vicious, and 
fools, and cowards. All men 
praise the valiant and honest; 
and that which the very heathens 
admired in their noblest examples is especially pa - 


Amittenda fortitudo est, aut 
sepeliendus dolor. 

Cic. Tusc. ii. 13. 

Fortem poscc animum, mor¬ 
tis terrore carentcm, 

Qui spatium vita; extremum 
inter munera ponat 
Naturae. 

Juv. Sat. x. 357. 


Sect. 8.] 


FEAR OF DEATH. 


149 


tience and-contempt of death. Zeno Eleates endured 
torments rather than discover his friends, or betray 
them to the danger of the tyrant: Val . Max . iiL 3> ext . 2> 3> 
and Calanus, the barbarous and and *' 8 ' cxt ‘ 10, 
unlearned Indian, willingly suffered himself to be 
burnt alive ; and all the women did so, to do honor 
to their husbands’ funerals, and to represent and 
prove their affections great to their lords. The 
religion of a Christian does more command forti¬ 
tude than ever did any institution ; for we are com¬ 
manded to be willing to die for Christ, to die for 
the brethren, to die rather than to give offence or 
scandal. The effect of which is this, that he that 
is instructed to do the necessary parts of his duty 
is by the, same instrument fortified against death : 
as he that does his duty needs not fear death, so 
neither shall he ; the parts of his duty are parts of 
his security. It is certainly a great baseness and 
pusillanimity of spirit that makes death terrible, 
and extremely to be avoided. 

3. Christian prudence is a great security against 
the fear of death. For if we be afraid of death, it 
is but reasonable to use all spiritual arts to take off 
the apprehension of the evil: but therefore we 
ought to remove our fear, because fear gives to 
death wings, and spurs, and darts. Death hastens 
to a fearful man : if therefore you would make death 
harmless and slow, to throw off fear is the way to 
do it; and prayer is the way to do that. If there¬ 
fore you be afraid of death, consider you will have 


150 


RE MED IES A G A INS T 


[Ch. III. 


less need to fear it, by how much the less you do 
fear it; and so cure your direct fear by a reflex act 
of prudence and consideration. Fannius had not 


died so soon if he had not feared 
death : and when Cneius Carbo 
begged the respite of a little 


Hostem cum fugeret, se 
Fannius ipse peremit. 

Mart. Epig. ii. 80. 


time for a base employment of the soldiers of Pom- 
pey, he got nothing, but that the baseness of his 
fear dishonored the dignity of his third consulship; 
and he chose to die in a place where none of his 
meanest servants should have seen him. I remem¬ 
ber a story of the wrestler Polydamas, that running 


into a cave to avoid the storm, 
the water at last swelled so high 


Yal. Max. iii. 12. ext. 10. 


that it began to press that hollowness to a ruin: 
which when his fellows espied, they chose to enter 
into the common fate of all men, and went abroad: 
but Polydamas thought by his strength to support 
the earth, till its intolerable weight crushed him 
into flatness and a grave. Many men run for shel¬ 
ter to a place, and they only find a remedy for their 
fears by feeling the worst of evils. Fear itself finds 
no sanctuary but the worst of sufferance : and they 
that fly from a battle are exposed to the mercy and 
fury of the pursuers, who, if they faced about, were 
as well disposed to give laws of life and death as 
to take them, and at worst can but die nobly ; but 
now, even at the very best, they live shamefully, or 
die timorously. Courage is the greatest security ; 
for it does most commonly safeguard the man, but 


Sect. 8.] 


FEAR OF DEATH. 


151 


always rescues the condition from an intolerable 
evil. 

4. If thou wilt he fearless of death, endeavor to 
be in love with the felicities of saints and angels, 
and be once persuaded to believe that there is a 
condition of living better than this; that there are 
creatures more noble than we ; that above there is a 
country better than ours ; that the inhabitants know 
more and know better, and are in places of rest and 
desire: and first learn to value it, and then learn 
to purchase it; and death cannot be a formidable 
thing, which lets us into so much joy and so much 
felicity. And indeed who would not think his con¬ 
dition mended, if he passed from conversing with 
dull mortals, with ignorant and foolish persons, with 
tyrants and enemies of learning, to Converse with 
Homer and Plato, with Socrates and Cicero, with 
Plutarch and Fabricius? So the heathens specu¬ 
lated, but we consider higher. The dead that die 
in the Lord shall converse with St. Paul and all 
the college of the Apostles, and all the saints and 
martyrs, with all the good men whose memory we 
preserve in honor, with excellent kings and holy 
bishops, and with the great Shepherd and Bishop of 
our souls, Jesus Christ, and with God himself. For 
Christ died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, 
we may live together with ldm. Then we shall be 
free from lust and envy, from fear and rage, from 
covetousness and sorrow, from tears and cowardice ; 
and these indeed properly are the only evils that 


152 


11 EM ED IES A GA INS T 


[Cii. III. 


are contrary to felicity and .wisdom. Then we 
Bcnti crimus, ctim, corpo- shall see strange things, and 

know new propositions, and all 


pcrtcs; quodque nunc fact- things j n another manner, and 

nius, cum laxati cunssuimis, o 

ut spectare aliquid vclimus higher purposes. Cleombro- 
et viscre, etc. ~ r 1 

cic. Tusc. i. i9. tus was s0 taken with this sjdec- 
ulation, that having learned from Plato’s Phsedon 
the soul’s abode, he had not patience to stay na¬ 
ture’s dull leisure, but leapt from a wall to his 
portion of immortality. And when Pomponius 
Atticus resolved to die by famine, to ease the great 
pains of his gout, in the abstinence of two days he 
found his foot at ease : but when he becran to feel 


the pleasures of an approaching death, and the deli¬ 
cacies of that ease he was to inherit below, he would 
not withdraw his foot, but went on and finished his 
death . and so did Cleanthes. And every wise man 
will despise those little evils of that state, which 
indeed is the daughter of fear, but the mother of 
rest, and peace, and felicity. 

5. If God should say to us, “ Cast thyself into 
the sea,” (as Christ did to St. Peter, or as God con¬ 
cerning Jonas,) “ I have provided for thee a dolphin, 
or a whale, or a port, a safety or a deliverance, se¬ 
curity or a reward,” were we not incredulous and 
pusillanimous persons if we should tremble to put 
such a felicity into act, and ourselves into posses¬ 
sion ? The very duty of resignation and the love of 
our own interest are good antidotes against fear. In 
forty or fifty years we find evils enough, and argu- 


Sect. 8.J 


FEAR OF DEATH. 


153 


subducere nolles, 

Sed virtus te sola daret! 

Lucan, iv. 580. 


ments enough to make us weary of this life: and 
to a good man there are very many more reasons 
to he afraid of life than death, this having in it less 
of evil and more of advantage. And it was a rare 
wish of that Roman, that death might come only to 
wise and excellent persons, and Mors> utinam pavidos vita 
not to fools and cowards; that 
it might not be a sanctuary for 
the timorous, but the reward of the virtuous : and 
indeed they only can make advantage of it. 

6 . Make no excuses to make thy desires of life 
seem reasonable, neither cover thy fear with pre¬ 
tences, but suppress it rather with arts of severity 
and ingenuity. Some are not willing to submit to 
God’s sentence and arrest of death, till they have 
finished such a design, or made an end of the last 
paragraph of their book, or raised such portions for 
their children, or preached so many sermons, or 
built their house, or planted their orchard, or 
ordered their estate with such advantages. It is 
well for the modesty of these 
men that the excuse is ready; Mu ™ p u 1 *’££*£* 
but if it were not, it is certain Vug. AZn.iv.ss. 

they would search one out: for an idle man is 
never ready to die, and is glad of any excuse : and 
p. busied man hath always something unfinished, 
and he is ready for everything but death. And I 
remember that Petronius brings 
in Eumolpus composing verses 
in a desperate storm, and being called upon to shift 
7* 


Pendent opera inter- 
rupta, minseque 


Sat. c. 115. 


154 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch. III. 


for himself when the ship dashed upon the rock, 
crying out to let him alone till he had finished and 
trimmed his verse, which was lame in the hinder 
leg: the man either had too strong a desire to end 
his verse, or too great a desire not to end his life. 
But we must know God’s times are not to be 
measured by our circumstances; and what I value 
God regards not: or if it be valuable in the ac¬ 
counts of men, yet God will supply it with other 
contingencies of his providence. And if Epaphro- 
ditus had died when he had his great sickness St. 
Paul speaks of, God would have secured the work 
of the Gospel without him ; and he could have 
spared Epaphroditus as well as St. Stephen, and 
St. Peter as well as St. James. Say no more, but, 
when God calls, lay aside thy papers, and first 
dress thy soul, and then dress thy hearse. 

Blindness is odious, and widowhood is sad, and 
destitution is without comfort, and persecution is 
full of trouble, and famine is intolerable, and tears 
are the sad ease of the sadder heart; but these are 
evils of our life, not of our death. For the dead 
that die in the Lord are so far from wanting the 
commodities of this life, that they do not want life 
itself. 

After all this, I do not say it is a sin to be afraid 
of death ; we find the boldest spirit that discourses 
of it with confidence, and dares undertake a danger 
as big as death, yet doth shrink at the horror of it, 
when it comes dressed in its proper circumstances. 


Sect. 8.] 


FEAR OF DEATH. 


155 


Val. Max. iv. 7. 6. 


Ancl Brutus who was as bold a Roman to under¬ 
take a noble action as any was since they first 
reckoned by consuls ; yet when Furius came to 
cut his throat, after his defeat 
by Antony, he ran from it like 
a girl, and being admonished to die constantly, he 
swore by his life that he would shortly endure 
death. But what do I speak of such imperfect 
persons ? Our blessed Lord was pleased to legiti¬ 
mate fear to us by his agony and prayers in the 
garden. It is not a sin to be afraid, but it is a 
great felicity to be without fear ; which felicity our 
dearest Saviour refused to have, because it was 
agreeable to his purposes to suffer anything that 
was contrary to felicity, everything but sin. But 
when men will by all means 
avoid death, they are like those y° vre * T ' ov Zavarov. 
who at any hand resolve to be rich. The case may 
happen in which they will blaspheme and dishonor 
Providence, or do a base action, or curse God and 
die: but in all cases they die miserable and en¬ 
snared, and in no case do they die the less for it. 
Nature hath left us the key of the churchyard, and 
custom hath brought cemeteries and charnel-houses 
into cities and churches, places 
most frequented, that we might 
not carry ourselves strangely in 
so certain, so expected, so ordi¬ 
nary, so unavoidable an accident. 

All reluctancy, or unwillingness 


Qunm pellunt lacryinrc, 
fovent 

Sortem: dura ncgant cedere 
mollibus. 

Siccas si videat genas, 
Duraa cedet hebes Sors Pa- 
ticntiaa. 

Sarbiev. Lyric, iv. 13. 


156 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch. III. 


to obey the divine decree is but a snare to ourselves, 
and a load to our spirits, and is either an entire 
cause, or a great aggravation of the calamity. Who 
did not scorn to look upon Xerxes when he caused 
three hundred stripes to be given to the sea, and 
sent a cartel of defiance against the mountain Atlios ? 


Herod, i. 189. 


Who did not scorn the proud 
vanity of Cyrus, when he took 
so goodly a revenge upon the river Cydnus [Gyndes] 
for his hard passage over it ? or did not deride 
or pity the Thracians for shooting arrows against 
, . „ heaven when it thunders? To 

Nrj7rtot, oi Zrjvt fieve- 

aivoixev a^po^eorre?. be angry with God, to quarrel 

Horn. ll» xv« 104. *.i -«• • \ •-* i 

with the divine -Providence, by 
repining against an unalterable, a natural, an easy 
sentence, is an argument of a huge folly, and the 
Et cum nihil imminuat do- Parent of a great trouble. A 
Si r / rustra turpes esse man is base and foolish to no 
sen. [Cic. Tusc. n. 24 .] purpose ; lie throws away a vice 

to his own misery, and to no advantages of ease and 

pleasure. Fear keeps men in 
bondage all their life , saitli St. 
Paul; and patience makes him his own man, and 
lord of his own interest and person. Therefore 
possess yourselves in patience , with reason and re¬ 
ligion, and you shall die with ease. 

If all the parts of this discourse be true, if they 
, be better than dreams, and un- 

- Virtutem verba putas, ut 

Luc uni ligna. less virtue be notkinq but words, 

Hor. Epist. i. 6.31. " 

as a great heap of trees ; if they 


Non levat miseros dolor. 


Sect. 9.] 


FEAR OF DEATH. 


157 


be not the phantasms of hypochondriacal persons, 
and designs upon the interest of men and their per¬ 
suasions to evil purposes, then there is no reason 
but that we should really desire death, and account 
it among the good things of God, and the sour and 
laborious felicities of man. St. Paul understood it 
well, when he desired to he dissolved: he well enough 
knew his own advantages, and pursued them accord¬ 
ing^. But it is certain that he that is afraid of 
death, I mean with a violent and transporting fear, 
with a fear apt to discompose his duty or his pa¬ 
tience, that man either loves this world too much, 
or dares not trust God for the next. 

Sect. IX. — General Rides and Exercises whereby 
our Sickness may become safe and sanctified. 

1 . rr^AKE care that the cause of thy sickness be * 
1 such as may not sour it in the principle 
and original causes of it. It is a sad calamity to 
pass into the house of mourning through the gates 
of intemperance, by a drunken meeting, or the sur¬ 
feits of a loathed and luxurious table: for then a 
man suffers the pain of his own folly, and he is like 
a fool smarting under the whip which his own 
viciousness twisted for his back; then a man pays 
the price of his sin, and hath a pure and an un¬ 
mingled sorrow in his suffering; and it cannot be 
alleviated by any circumstances, for the whole affair 
is a mere process of death and sorrow. Sin is in 


158 


GENERAL RULES TO MAKE [Ch. III. 


the head, sickness is in the body, and death and an 
eternity of pains in the tail, and nothing can make 
this condition tolerable, unless the miracles of the 
sed Ill! solatium est pro divine mercy will be pleased to 

honesto dura tolerare, et ad exc l iall rr e the eternal anger for 

Sen. De Prov. c. 3 . § 9 . t j ie temporal. True it is that 
in all sufferings the cause of it makes it noble or 
ignoble, honor or shame, tolerable or intolerable. 
For when patience is assaulted by a ruder violence, 

i ret. 2 . 19 ; iieb. ii. 3 G; by a blow from heaven or earth, 
Matt. 5. n. from a gracious God or an un¬ 

just man, patience looks forth to the doors which 
way she may escape ; and if innocence or a cause 
of religion keep the first entrance, then, whether 
she escapes at the gates of life or death, there is a 
good to be received greater than the evils of a sick¬ 
ness : but if sin thrust in that sickness, and that 
hell stands at the door, then patience turns into 

fury, and, seeing it impossible 

Magis his quae patitur vex- ^ ° 

at causa patiendi. tO gO forth with Safety, rolls UD 

Sen. De Prov. c. 3. § 9. ° A 

and down with a circular and 
infinite revolution, making its motion not from, but 
upon, its own centre ; it doubles the pain, and in¬ 
creases the sorrow, till by its weight it breaks the 
spirit, and bursts into the agonies of infinite and 
eternal ages. If we had seen St. Polycarp burning 
to death, or St. Laurence roasted upon his gridiron, 
or St. Ignatius exposed to lions, or St. Sebastian 
pierced with arrows, or St. Attains carried about 
the theatre with scorn unto his death for the cause 


Sect. 9.] SICKNESS SAFE AND IIOL Y. 


159 


of Jesus, for religion, for God and holy conscience, 
we should have been in love with flames, and have 
thought the gridiron fairer than the spondee, the 
ribs of a marital bed ; and we should have chosen 
to converse with those beasts rather than those men 
that brought those beasts forth; and estimated the 
arrows to be the rays of light brighter than the 
moon ; and that disgrace and mistaken pageantry 
were a solemnity richer and more magnificent than 
Mordecai’s procession upon the king’s horse and in 
the robes of majesty. for so did these holy men 
account them ; they kissed their stakes and hugged 
their deaths, and ran violently to torments, and 
counted whippings and secular disgraces to be the 
enamel of their persons, and the ointment of their 
heads, and the embalming their names, and secur¬ 
ing them for immortality. But to see Sejanus torn 
in pieces by the people, or Nero crying or creeping 
timorously to his death, when he was condemned 
to die more majorum ; to see Judas pale and trem¬ 
bling, full of -anguish, sorrow, and despair ; to ob¬ 
serve the groanings and intolerable agonies of 
Herod and Antiochus, will tell and demonstrate 
the causes of patience and impatience to proceed 
from the causes of the suffering; and it is sin only 
that makes the cup bitter and deadly. When men 
by vomiting measure up the drink they took in, and 
sick and sad do again taste their m quicquid Mberintvom- 


meat turned into choler by in¬ 
temperance, the sin and its pun- 


itu reinetientur, tristes, et bi- 
lem 8uum regustantes. 


Sen. De Prov. c. 3. § 11. 


1G0 


GENERAL RULES TO MAKE 


[Ch. III. 


ishment are mingled so, that shame covers the face, 
and sorrow puts a veil of darkness upon the heart: 
and we scarce pity a vile person that is haled to 
execution for murder or for treason, but we say he 
deserves it, and that every man is concerned in it 
that he should die. If lust brought the sickness or 
the shame, if we truly suffer the rewards of our 
evil deeds, we must thank ourselves ; that is, we 
are fallen into an evil condition, and are the sac¬ 
rifice of the divine justice. But if we live holy 
lives, and if we enter well in, we are sure to pass 
on safe, and to go forth with advantage, if we list 
ourselves. 

2. To this relates, that we should not counterfeit 
sickness ; for he that is to be careful of his passage 
into a sickness, will think himself concerned that 
he fall not into it through a trap-door: for so it 
hath sometimes happened, that such counterfeiting 
to light and evil purposes hath ended in a real 
sufferance. Appian tells of a Roman gentleman, 

who to escape the proscription 

Da Bell. Civ. iv. 41. 1 1 * 

of the Triumvirate tied, and to 
secure his privacy counterfeited himself blind on 
one eye, and wore a plaster upon it, till beginning 
to be free from the malice of the three prevailing 
princes, lie opened his hood, but could not open his 

eye, but for ever lost the use 

Quantum cura potest ct ars 

doloris! of it, and with his eye paid for 

Desit iingere Cadius poda- ..... ^ . 

gram. his liberty and hypocrisy. And 

Mart. Epig. vii. 30.8. „ .. 

Camus counterfeited the gout, 


Sect. 9.] SICKNESS SAFE AND IIOL Y. 


1G1 


and all its circumstances and pains, its dressings 
and arts of remedy, and complaint, till at last the 
gout really entered and spoiled the pageantry. His 
arts of dissimulation were so witty, that they put 
life and motion into the very image of the disease ; 
he made the very picture to sigh and groan. 

It is easy to tell upon the interest of what virtue 
such counterfeiting is to be reproved. But it will 
be harder to snatch the politics of the world from 
following that which they call a canonized and au¬ 
thentic precedent: and David’s counterfeiting him¬ 
self mad before the king of Gath, to save his life 
and liberty, will be sufficient to entice men to serve 
an end upon the stock and charges of so small an 
irregularity, not in the matter of manners, but in 
the rules and decencies of natural or civil deport¬ 
ment. I cannot certainly tell what degrees of ex¬ 
cuse David’s action might put on. This only, 
besides his present necessity, the laws whose coer¬ 
cive or directive power David lived under, had less 
of severity and more of liberty, and towards enemies 
had so little of restraint and so great a power, that 

what amongst them was a direct sin if used to their 
© 

brethren the sons of Jacob, was lawful and per¬ 
mitted to be acted against enemies. To which also 
I add this general caution, that the actions of holy 
persons in Scripture are not always good precedents 
to us Christians, who are to walk by a rule and a 
greater strictness, with more simplicity and hearti¬ 
ness of pursuit. And amongst them, sanctity and 


162 


GENERAL RULES TO MAKE [Ch. III. 


holy living did in very many of its instances increase 
in new particulars of duty; and the prophets re¬ 
proved many things which the law forbade not, and 
taught many duties which Moses prescribed not. 
And as the time of Christ’s approach came, so the 
sermons and revelations too were more evangelical, 
and like the patterns which were fully to be ex¬ 
hibited by the Son of God. Amongst which it is 
certain that Christian simplicity and godly sincerity 
is to be accounted : and counterfeiting of sickness 
is a huge enemy to this: it is an upbraiding the 
divine Providence, a jesting with fire, a playing 
with a thunderbolt, a making the decrees of God 
to serve the vicious or secular ends of men; it is a 
tempting of a judgment, a false accusation of God, a 
forestalling and antedating his anger ; it is a cozen¬ 
ing of men by making God a party in the fraud: 
and therefore if the cozenage returns upon the 
man’s own head, he enters like a fox into his sick¬ 
ness, and perceives himself catched in a trap, or 
earthed in the intolerable dangers of the grave. 

3. Although we must be infinitely careful to pre¬ 
vent it, that sin does not thrust us into a sickness ; 
yet when we are in the house of sorrow, we should 
do well to take physic against sin, and suppose that 
it is the cause of the evil; if not by way of natural 
causality and proper effect, yet by a moral influence, 
and by a just demerit. We can easily see when a 
man hath got a surfeit: intemperance is as plain as 
the handwriting upon the wall, and easier to be 


Sect. 9.] SICKNESS SAFE AND HOLY. 163 

read; but covetousness may cause a fever, as well as 
drunkenness, and pride can produce a falling-sickness 
as well as long washings and dilutions of the brain, 
and intemperate lust. And we find it recorded in 
Scripture that the contemptuous and unprepared 
manner of receiving of the holy sacraments caused 
sickness and death ; and sacrilege and vow-breach 
in Ananias and Sapphira made them to descend 
quick into their graves. Therefore when sickness 
is upon us, let us cast about, and, if we can, let us 
find out the cause of God’s displeasure, that, it being 
removed, we may return into the health and securi¬ 
ties of God’s loving-kindness. Thus in the three 
years’ famine David inquired of the Lord what was 
the matter; and God answered, It is for Saul and 
Ids bloody house; and then David expiated the 
guilt, and the people were full again of food and 
blessing. And when Israel was smitten by the 
Amorites, Joshua cast about, and found out the 
accursed thing, and cast it out; and the people after 
that fought prosperously. And what God in that 
case said to Joshua, he will also verify to us ; I will 
not be with you any more, unless 

J J / Josh. 7.12. 

ye destroy the accursed thing from 
among you. But in pursuance of this we are to 
observe, that although in case of loud and clamor¬ 
ous sins the discovery is easy, and the remedy not 
difficult, yet because Christianity is a nice tiling, 
and religion is as pure as the sun, and the soul 
of man is apt to be troubled from more principles 


1G4 


GENERAL RULES TO MAKE [Ch. Ill 


than the intricate and curiously composed body in 
its innumerable parts, it will often happen that if 
we go to inquire into the particular, we shall 
never find it out; and we may suspect drunken¬ 
ness, when it may be also a morose delectation 
in unclean thoughts, or covetousness, or oppres¬ 
sion, or a crafty invasion of my neighbor’s rights, 
or my want of charity, or my judging unjustly in 
my own cause, or my censuring my neighbors, or a 
secret pride, or a base hypocrisy, or the pursuance 
of little ends with violence and passion, that may 
have procured the present messenger of death. 
r Opa KaKoji; Trpa.cr&oi'Te ^Therefore ask no more after 


p.r] Ka/ca 

Krrjcrw/u.€0’. 


any one, but heartily endeavor 


soph, el 1003. to reform all: sin no more , lest 
a worse thing happen. For a single search or ac¬ 
cusation may be the design of an imperfect repent¬ 
ance ; but no man does heartily return to God but 
he that decrees against every irregularity : and then 
only we can be restored to health or life when we 
have taken away the causes of sickness and accursed 
death. 

4. lie that means to have his sickness turn into 
safety and life, into health and virtue, must make 
religion the employment of his sickness , and prayer 
the employment of his religion. For there are cer¬ 
tain compendiums or abbreviatures and shortenings 
of religion, fitted to several states. They that first 
gave up their names to Christ, and that turned 
from Paganism to Christianity, had an abbreviature 


Sect. 9.] SICKNESS SAFE AND HOLY. 


165 


fitted for them ; they were to renounce their false 
worshippings, and give up their belief, and vow 
their obedience unto Christ, and in the very profes¬ 
sion of this they were forgiven in baptism. For 
God hastens to snatch them from the power of the 
Devil, and therefore shortens the passage, and se¬ 
cures the estate. In the case of poverty, God hath 
reduced this duty of man to an abbreviature of 
those few graces which they can exercise ; such as 
are patience, contentedness, truth and diligence; 
and the rest he accepts in good-will and the chari¬ 
ties of the soul, in prayers, and the actions of a 
cheap religion. And to most men charity is also 
an abbreviature. And as the love of God shortens 
the way to the purchase of all virtues ; so the ex¬ 
pression of this to the poor goes a huge way in the 
requisites and towards the consummation of an ex¬ 
cellent religion. And martyrdom is another abbre¬ 
viature ; and so is every act of an excellent and 
lieroical virtue. But when we are fallen into the 
state of sickness, and that our understanding is weak 
and troubled, our bodies sick and useless, our pas- • 
sions turned into fear, and the whole state into suf¬ 
fering, God, in compliance with man’s infirmity, 
hath also turned our religion into such a duty which 
a sick man can do most passionately, and a sad man 
and a timorous can perform effectually, and a dying 
man can do to many purposes of pardon and mercy, 
and that is prayer. For although a sick man is 
bound to do many acts of virtue of several kinds, 


166 


GENERAL RULES TO MAKE [Ch. III. 


yet the most of them are to be done in the way of 
'prayer. Prayer is not only the religion that is 
proper to a sick man’s condition, but it is the man¬ 
ner of doing other graces which is then left, and in 
his power. For thus the sick man is to do his re¬ 
pentance and his mortifications, his temperance and 
his chastity, by a fiction of imagination bringing the 
offers of the virtue to the spirit, and making an 
action of election: and so our prayers are a direct 
act of chastity, when they are made in the matter 
of that grace ; just as repentance for our cruelty is 
an act of the grace of mercy; and repentance for 
uncleanness is an act of chastity, is a means of its 
purchase, an act in order to the habit. And though 
such acts of virtue which are only in the way of 
prayer are ineffective to the entire purchase, and 
of themselves cannot change the vice into virtue; 
yet they are good renewings of the grace, and proper 
exercise of a habit already gotten. 

The purpose of this discourse is, to represent the 
excellency of prayer, and its proper advaptages 
which it hath in the time of sickness. For besides 
that it moves God to pity, piercing the clouds, and 
making the heavens, like a pricked eye, to weep 
over us, and refresh us with showers ot pity; it 
also doth the work of the soul, and expresses the 
virtue of his whole life in effigy, in pictures and 
lively representments; so preparing it for a never- 
ceasing crown, by renewing the actions in the con¬ 
tinuation of a never-ceasing, a never-hindered affec- 


Sect. 9.] SICKNESS SAFE AND IIOL Y. 


167 


tion. Prayer speaks to God when the tongue is 
stiffened with the approaehings of death : prayer 
can dwell in the heart, and be signified by the hand 
or the eye, by a thought or a groan. Prayer of all 
the actions of religion is the last alive, and it serves 
God without circumstances, and exercises material 
graces by abstraction from matter, and separation, 
and makes them to be spiritual; and therefore best 
dresses our bodies for funeral or recovery, for the 
mercies of restitution or the mercies of the grave. 

5. In every sickness, whether it will or will not 
be so in nature and in the event, yet in thy spirit 
and preparations resolve upon it, and treat thyself 
accordingly as if it were a sickness unto death. For 
many men support their unequal courages by flat¬ 
tery and false hopes, and because sicker men have 
recovered, believe that they shall do so; but there¬ 
fore they neglect to adorn their souls, or set their 
house in order. Besides the temporal inconven¬ 
iences that often happen by such persuasions, and 
putting off* the evil day, such as are dying intestate , 
leaving estates entangled , and some relatives unpro¬ 
videdfor ; they suffer infinitely in the interest and 
affairs of their soul: they die carelessly and sur¬ 
prised, their burdens on, and their scruples unre¬ 
moved, and their cases of conscience not determined, 
and, like a sheep, without any care taken concern¬ 
ing their precious souls. Some men will never 
believe that a villain will betray them, though they 
receive often advices from suspicious persons and 


168 


GENERAL RULES TO MAKE 


[Ch. III. 


likely accidents, till they are entered into the snare ; 
and then they believe it when they feel it, and when 
they cannot return : but so the treason entered, and 
the man was betrayed by his own folly, placing the 
snare in the regions and advantages of opportunity. 
This evil looks like boldness and a confident spirit, 
but it is the greatest timorousness and cowardice in 
the world. They are so fearful to die, that they 
dare not look upon it as possible; and think that 
the making of a will is a mortal sign, and sending 
for a spiritual man an irrecoverable disease, and 
they are so afraid lest they should think and believe 
now they must die, that they will not take care that 
it may not be evil in case they should. So did the 
eastern slaves drink wine, and wrap their heads in 
a veil, that they might die without sense or sorrow, 
and wink hard that they might sleep the easier. In 
pursuance of this rule let a man consider that what¬ 
soever must be done in sickness ought to be done 
in health ; only let him observe, that his sickness as 
a good monitor chastises his neglect of duty, and 
forces him to live as he always should ; and then all 
these solemnities and dressings for death are noth- 
ing else but the part of a religious life, which he 
ought to have exercised in all his days ; and if 
those circumstances can affright him, let him plea- e 
his fancy by this truth, and then he does but begin 
to live. But it will be a huge folly, if he shall 
think that confession of liis sins wiil kill him, or re¬ 
ceiving the holy sacrament will hasten his agony, 


Sect. 9.] SICKNESS SAFE AND IIOLY. 


1G9 


or the priest shall undo all the hopeful language 
and promises of his.physician. Assure thyself thou 
ccinst not die the sooner; hut by such addresses thou 
mayest die much the better. 

6. Let the sick person be infinitely careful that he 
do not fall into a state of death upon a new account; 
that is, at no hand commit a deliberate sin, or retain 
any affection to the old ; for in both cases he falls 
into the evils of a surprise, and the horrors of a 
sudden death. For a sudden death is but a sudden 
joy, if it takes a man in the state and exercises of 
virtue; and it is only then an evil, when it finds a 
man unready. They were sad departures when 
Tigellinus, Cornelius Gallus the praetor, Lewis the 
son of Gonzaga duke of Mantua, Ladislaus king of 
Naples, Speusippus, Giaehettus of Geneva, and one 
of the popes, died in the forbidden embraces of 
abused women; or if Job had cursed God, and so 
died; or when a man sits down in despair, and in 
the accusation and calumny of the divine mercy; 
they make their night sad and stormy, and eternal. 
When Herod began to sink with the shameful tor¬ 
ment of his bowels, and felt the grave open under 
him, he imprisoned the nobles of his kingdom, and 
commanded his sister that they should be a sacrifice 
to his departing ghost. This was an egress lit only 
for such persons who meant to dwell with devils to 
eternal ages; and that man is hugely in love with 
sin, who cannot forbear in the week of the assizes, 
and when himself stood at the bar of scrutiny, and 
8 


170 


RULES FOR SICKNESS. 


[Ch. III. 


* Whoso him bethoft 
Inwardly and oft 
IIow hard it were to flit 
From bed unto the pitt, 


prepared for his final, never-to-be-reversed sentence. 
He dies suddenly to the worse sense and event of 
sudden death, who so manages his sickness that 
even that state shall not be innocent, but that he is 
surprised in the guilt of a new account. It is a sign 
of a reprobate spirit, and an habitual, prevailing, 
ruling sin, which exacts obedience when the judg¬ 
ment looks him in the face. At 
least go to God with the inno- 

From pitt unto pc y „c and fair deportment of thy 

That nere shall cease cer- p ergon j n the last SCCIie of tllV 

He wold not doe one sin jjf e that when thy soul breaks 

All the world to winn. 7 J 

inscript, marmori in Ec- into the state of separation, it 

clcs. parocli. de Fever- 1 

sham,in agro cantiano. may carry the relishes of relig¬ 
ion and sobriety to the place of its abode and sen¬ 
tence.* 

7. When these things are taken care for, let the 
sick man so order his affairs that he have but very 
little conversation with the world, but (wholly as he 
can) attend to religion, and antedate his conversa¬ 
tion in heaven, always having intercourse with God, 
and still conversing with the holy Jesus, kissing his 
wounds, admiring his goodness, begging his mercy, 
feeding on him with faith, and drinking his blood: 
to which purpose it were very fit (if all circum¬ 
stances be answerable) that the narrative of the 
passion of Christ be read or discoursed to him at 
length, or in brief according to the style of the four 
Gospels. But in all things let his care and society 
be as little secular as is possible. 



CHAPTER IV. 


OF THE PRACTICE OF THE GRACES PROPER TO THE STATE 
OF SICKNESS, WHICH A SICK MAN .MAY PRACTISE ALONE. 

Sect. I .—Of the Practice of Patience. 

N OW we suppose the man entering upon his 
scene of sorrows and passive graces. It may 
be he went yesterday to a wedding merry and brisk, 
and there he felt his sentence, that he must return 
home and die ; (for men very commonly enter into 
the snare singing, and consider not whither their 
fate leads them;) nor feared that then the angel 
was to strike his stroke, till his knees kissed the 
earth, and his head trembled with the weight of the 
rod which God put into the hand of an extermi¬ 
nating angel. But whatsoever the ingress was, 
when the man feels his blood boil, or his bones 
weary, or his flesh diseased with a load of a dis¬ 
persed and disordered humor, or his head to ache, 
or his faculties discomposed, then he must consider 
that all those discourses he hath heard concerning 
patience and resignation, and conformity to Christ’s 
sufferings, and the melancholic lectures of the cross, 
must all of them now be reduced to practice, and 


172 


PRACTICE OF THE GRACE [Ch. IV. 


pass from an ineffective contemplation to such an 
exercise as will really try whether we were true 
disciples of the cross, or only believed the doctrines 
of religion when we were at ease, and that they 
never passed through the ear to the heart, and 
dwelt not in our spirits. But every man should 
consider God does nothing in vain; that he would 
not to no purpose send us preachers, and give us 
rules, and furnish us with discourse, and lend us 
books, and provide sermons, and make examples, 
and promise his Spirit, and describe the blessedness 
of holy sufferings, and prepare us with daily alarms, 
if he did not really purpose to order our affairs so 
that we should need all this, and use it all. There 
were no such things as the grace of patience, if we 
were not to feel a sickness, or enter into a state of 
sufferings ; whither when we are entered, we are 
to practise by the following rules : — 

The Practice and Acts of Patience , by ivay of Ride. 

1. At the first address and presence of sickness, 
stand still and arrest thy spirit , that it may without 
amazement or affright consider that this was that 
thou lookedst for, and wert always certain should 
happen ; and that now thou art to enter into the 
actions of a new religion, the agony of a strange 
constitution ; but at no hand suffer thy spirits to 
be dispersed with fear, or wildness of thought, but 
stay their looseness and dispersion by a serious con- 


Sect. l.J OF PATIENCE IN SICKNESS. 


173 


sideration of the present and future employment. 
For so doth the Libyan lion, spying the fierce hunts¬ 
man ; he first beats himself with the strokes of his 
tail, and curls up his spirits, making them strong 
with union and recollection, till being struck with a 
Mauritanian spear, he rushes forth into his defence 
and noblest contention; and either scapes into the 
secrets of his own dwelling, or else dies the bravest 
of the forest. Every man when shot with an arrow 
from God’s quiver, must then draw in all the auxil¬ 
iaries of reason, and know that then is the time to 
try his strength, and to reduce the words of his 
religion into action, and consider that if he behaves 
himself weakly and timorously, he suffers never the 
less of sickness; but if he returns to health, he 
carries along with him the mark of a coward and a 
fool; and if he descends into his grave, he enters 
into the state of the faithless and unbelievers. Let 
him set his heart firm upon this resolution, I must 
bear it inevitably , and 1 will by God’s grace do it 
nobly. 

2. Bear in thy sickness all along , the same thoughts , 
propositions , and discourses concerning thy person , 
thy life and death , thy sold and religion , which thou 
hadst in the best days of thy health, and when thou 
didst discourse wisely concerning things spiritual. 

• 

For it is to be supposed (and if it be not yet done, 
let this rule remind thee of it, and direct thee) that 
thou hast cast about in thy health, and considered 
concerning thy change and the evil day , that thou 


174 


PRACTICE OF THE GRACE [Ch. IV. 


must be sick and die, that thou must need a com¬ 
forter, and that it was certain thou shouldst fall into 
a state in which all the cords of thy anchor should be 
stretched, and the very rock and foundation of faith 
should be attempted. And whatsoever fancies may 
disturb you, or whatsoever weaknesses may invade 
you, yet consider, when you were better able to 
judge and govern the accidents of your life, you 
concluded it necessary to trust in God, and possess 
you?' souls with patience . Think of things as they 
think that stand by you, and as you did when you 
stood by others ; that it is a blessed thing to be 
patient; that a quietness of spirit hath a certain 
reward; that still there is infinite truth and reality 
in the promises of the Gospel; that still thou art in 
the care of God, in the condition of a son, and work- 
ing out thy salvation with labor and pain, with fea?' 
and trembling ; that now the sun is under a cloud, but 
it still sends forth the same influence: and be sure 
to make no new principles upon the stock of a quick 
and an impatient sense, or too busy an apprehension; 
keep your old principles, and upon their stock dis¬ 
course and practise on towards your conclusion. 

3. Resolve to bear your sickness like a child , that 
is, without considering the evils and the pains, the 
sorrows and the danger; but go straight forward, 
and let thy thoughts cast about for nothing but how 
to make advantages of it by the instrument of re¬ 
ligion. He that from a high tower looks down 
upon the precipice, and measures the space through 


Sect. 1.] OF PATIENCE IN SICKNESS. 


175 


which he must descend, and considers what a huge 
fall he shall have, shall feel more by the horror of 
it, than by the last dash on the pavement: and he 
that tells his groans and numbers his sighs, and 
reckons one for every gripe of his belly, or throb of 
his distempered pulse, will make an artificial sick¬ 
ness greater than the natural. And if thou beest 
ashamed that a child should bear an evil better 
than thou, then take his instrument, and allay thy 
spirit with it; reflect not upon thy evil, but contrive 
as much as you can for duty, and in all the rest in- 
consideration will ease your pain. 

4. If thou fearest thou shalt need, observe and 
draw together all such things as are apt to charm 
thy spirit, and ease thy fancy in the sufferance. It 
is the counsel of Socrates: It is 
(said he) a great danger , and you Kal xpi? tA TOlaO0 > ^ anep 
must by discourse and arts of ^fietyjavTw. 

«•' _ * Plat. P/ued. c. G3, al. 145. 

reasoning enchant it into slum¬ 
ber,, and some rest. It may be thou wert moved 
much to see a person of honor to die untimely; or 
thou didst love the religion of that death-bed, and 
it was dressed up in circumstances fitted to thy 
needs, and hit thee on that part where thou wert 
most sensible; or some little saying in a sermon, or 
passage of a book, was chosen and singled out by 
a peculiar apprehension, and made consent lodge 
awhile in thy spirit, even then when thou didst 
place death in thy meditation, and didst view it in 
all its dress of fancy. • Whatsoever that was, which 


17(3 


PRACTICE OF TIIE GRACE [Ch. IV. 


at any time did please tliee in thy most passionate 
and fantastic part, let not that go, but bring it 
home at that time especially: because when thou 
art in thy weakness such little things will easier 
move thee, than a more severe discourse and a bet¬ 
ter reason. For a sick man is like a scrupulous; 
his case is gone beyond the cure of arguments, and 
it is a trouble that can only be helped by chance, or 
a lucky saying: and Ludovico Corbinelli was moved 
at the death of Henry the Second, more than if he 
had read the saddest elegy of all the unfortunate 
princes in Christendom, or all the sad sayings of 
Scripture, or the threnes of the funeral prophets. 
I deny not but this course is most proper to weak 
persons ; but it is a state of weakness for which we 
are now providing remedies and instruction; a 
strong man will not need it: but when our sickness 
hath rendered us weak in all senses, it is not good 
to refuse a remedy because it supposes us to be 
sick. But then, if to the catalogue of weak persons 
we add all those who are ruled by fancy, we shall 
find that many persons in their health , and more in 
their sickness , are under the dominion of fancy, and 
apt to be helped by those little things which them¬ 
selves have found litted to their apprehension, and 
which no other man can minister to their needs, 
unless by chance, or in a heap of other things. But 
therefore every man should remember by what in¬ 
struments he was at any time much moved, and try 
them upon his spirit in the day of his calamity. 


Sect. 1.] OF PATIENCE IN SICKNESS. 


177 


5. Do not choose the kind of thy sickness , or the 
manner of thy death ; but let it be what God please, 
so it be no greater than thy spirit, or thy patience; 
and for that you are to rely upon the promise of 
'God, and to secure thyself by prayer and industry: 
but in all things else let God be thy chooser, and 
let it be thy work to submit indifferently, and attend 
thy duty. It is lawful to beg of God that thy sick¬ 
ness may not be sharp or noisome, infectious or 
unusual, because these are circumstances of evil 
which are also proper instruments of temptation: 
and though it may well concern the prudence of 
thy religion to fear thyself, and keep thee from 
violent temptations, who hast so often fallen in little 
ones; yet even in these things, be sure to keep 
some degrees of indifferency; that is, if God will 
not be entreated to ease thee, or to change thy trial, 
then be importunate that thy spirit and its interest 
be secured, and let him do what seemeth good in his 
eyes. But as in the degrees of sickness, thou art 
to submit to God, so in the kind of it (supposing 
equal degrees) thou art to be altogether incurious 
whether God call thee by consumption or an asthma, 
by a dropsy or a palsy, by a fever in thy humors, 
or a fever in thy spirits; because all such nicety 
of choice is nothing but a color to legitimate impa¬ 
tience, and to make an excuse to murmur privately, 
and for circumstances, when in the sum of affairs 
we durst not own impatience. I have known some 
persons vehemently wish that they might die of a 

8* L 


178 


PRACTICE OF TIIE GRACE 


[Ch. IV. 


consumption, and some of these had a plot upon 
heaven, and hoped by that means to secure it, after 
a careless life ; as thinking a lingering sickness 
would certainly infer a lingering and a protracted 
repentance, and by that means they thought they 
should be safest. Others of them dreamed it would 
be an easier death ; and have found themselves 
deceived, and their patience hath been tired with a 
weary spirit, and an useless body ; by often con¬ 
versing with healthful persons, and vigorous neigh¬ 
bors ; by uneasiness of the flesh, and sharpness of 
their bones ; by want of spirits, and a dying life; 
and in conclusion have been directly debauched by 
peevishness and a fretful sickness. And these men 
had better have left it to the wisdom and goodness 
of God,, for they both are infinite. 

6. Be patient in the desires of religion , and take 
care that the forwardness of exterior actions do not 
discompose thy spirit , while thou fearest that, by less 
serving God in thy disability, thou runnest backward 
in the accounts of pardon and the favor of God. 
Be content that the time which was formerly spent 
in prayer be now spent in vomiting and carefulness 
and attendances; since God hath pleased it should 
be so, it does not become us to think hard thoughts 
concerning it. Do not think that God is only to be 
found in a great prayer, or a solemn office; he is 
moved by a sigh, by a groan, by an act of love. 
And therefore when your pain is great and pun¬ 
gent, lay all your strength upon it, to bear it pa- 


Sect. 1 .] OF PATIENCE IN SICKNESS. 


179 


tiently: when the evil is something more tolerable, 
let your mind think some pious, though short, medi¬ 
tation ; let it not be very busy, and full of attention, 
for that will be but a new temptation to your pa¬ 
tience, and render your religion tedious and hateful. 
But record your desires, and present yourself to 
God by general acts of will and understanding, and 
by habitual remembrances of your former vigorous¬ 
ness, and by verification of the same grace, rather 
than proper exercises. If you can do more, do it; 
but if you cannot, let it not become a scruple to 
thee. We must not think man is tied to the forms 
of health, or that he who swoons and faints is 
obliged to his usual forms and hours of prayer: if 
we cannot labor , yet let us love. Nothing can hinder 
us from that but our own uncharitableness. 

7. Be obedient to thy physician in those things 
that concern him, if he be a . . . „ ,, 

" Ipsi ceu vi Deo millo est 

person fit to minister unto thee. °r us; ®pj“ d sem**” 

I niss. I95J. Scaliger recte 

God is he only that needs no emendat, i ps l ceu Deo &c. 

° Ex Grasco scilicet, Mows 

help , and God hath created the © e bs AveMurijs /cat 
physician for thine : therefore Se ^ s * 
use him temperately , without violent confidences; 
and sweetly, without uncivil distrustings, or refusing 
his prescriptions upon humors or impotent fear. A 
man may refuse to have his arm or leg cut off, or 
to suffer the pains of Marius his incision: and if he 
believes that to die is the less evil, he may compose 
himself to it without hazarding his patience, or in¬ 
troducing that which he thinks a worse evil. But 


180 


PRACTICE OF THE GRACE 


[Ch. IV. 


that which in this article is to be reproved and 
avoided is, that some men will choose to die out 
of fear of death, and send for physicians, and do 
what themselves list, and call for counsel, and fol¬ 
low none. When there is reason they should de¬ 
cline him, it is not to be accounted to the stock 
of a sin; but where there is no just cause, there is 
a direct impatience. 

Hither is to be reduced that we be not too confi¬ 
dent of the physician, or drain our hopes of recovery 
from the fountain through so imperfect channels ; 
laying the wells of God dry, and digging to our¬ 
selves broken cisterns. Physicians are the ministers 
of God’s mercies and providence, in the matter of 
health and ease, of restitution or death, and when 
God shall enable their judgments, and direct their 
counsels, and prosper their medicines, they shall do 
thee good, for which you must give God thanks, 
and to the physician the honor of a blessed instru¬ 
ment. But this cannot always be done. And Lucius 
Cornelius, the lieutenant in Portugal under Fabius 
_ _ . , „ , „ the consul, boasted in the in- 

L. Cornel, legatus sub Fa- 7 

bio consule vividam naturam sCl’iption of llis monument, that 
et virilem animum servavi, 

quoad animam ctHavi; et he had lived a healthful and 

tandem desertus ope medi- 

corum et ^Escuiapii dei in- vegete age till liis last sickness, 

grati, cui me voveram soda- 

lem perpetuo futurum, sifiia but then complained he was 

aliquantulum optata protu- „ ....... 

lisset. - Vetus insenptio in forsaken by his physician, and 

Lusitania. [See Gruteri ... * 7n . . „ 

corp. inter. Tom. ii. spu- railed upon VLsculapius tor not 

ria^ etc• x. 7.] • • 

accepting his vow and passionate 
desire of preserving his life longer; and all the 


Sect. 1.] OF PATIENCE IN SICKNESS. 


181 


exorabile numen 
Cae saris. 

Stat. Silv. v. 1.162. 


effect of that impatience and the folly was, that it 
was recorded to following ages, that he died with¬ 
out reason and without religion. But it was a sad. 
sight to see the favor of all France confined to a 
physician and a barber, and the king (Louis XI.) 
to be so much their servant, that he should acknowl¬ 
edge and own his life from them, and all his ease to 
their gentle dressing of liis gout _ Nlmc t „ iu , onmibu , 
and friendly ministries : for the ^ , i( , nat<iuc fore>i 
king‘thought himself undone T . et P ectoreterget . . 

and robbed if he should die ; 
his portion here was fair, and 
he was loath to exchange his possession for the 
interest of a bigger hope. 

8. Treat thy nurses and servants sweetly , and as it 
becomes an obliged and a ?iecessitous person. Re¬ 
member that thou art very troublesome to them; 
that they trouble not thee willingly ; that they 
strive to do thee ease and benefit; that they wish 
it, and sigh and pray for it, and are glad if thou 
likest their attendance; that whatsoever is amiss is 
thy disease, and the uneasiness of thy head or thy 
side, thy distemper or thy disaffections; and it will 
be an unhandsome injustice to be troublesome to 
them, because thou art so to thyself; to make them 
feel a part of thy sorrows, that thou mayest not 
bear them alone ; evilly to requite their care by 
thy too curious and impatient wrangling and fretful 
spirit. That tenderness is vicious and unnatural 
that shrieks out under the weight of a gentle cata- 


182 


PRACTICE OF THE GRACE [Ch. IV. 


plasm; and he will ill comply with God's rod that 
cannot endure his friends’ greatest kindness ; and he 
will be very angry (if he durst) with God’s smiting 
him, that is peevish with his servants that go about 
to ease him. 

9. Let not the smart of your sickness make you to 
call violently for death ; you are not patient unless 


you be content to live. God 
hath wisely ordered that we may 


’AnoKaprepelp Groeci vo- 
cant, cum mors propter im- 
patientiam petitur. 


see etc. Tmc. i. 34. be the better reconciled with 
death, because it is the period of many calamities; 
but wherever the general hath placed thee, stir not 
from thy station until thou beest called off, but abide 
so, that death may come to thee by the design of 
him who intends it to be thy advantage. God hath 
made sufferance to be thy work ; and do not impa¬ 
tiently long for evening, lest at night thou findest 
the reward of him that was weary of his work : for 
he that is weary before his time is an unprofitable 
servant, and is either idle or diseased. 

10. That which remains in the practice of this 
grace is, that the sick man should do acts of patience 
by way of prayer and ejaculations ; in which he 
may serve himself of the following collection. 

Sect. II. — Acts of Patience by way of Prayer and 

Ejaculation. 

Job v. 8. T WILL seek unto God , unto God will I 
X commit my cause ; 


Sect. 2.] OF PATIENCE IN SICKNESS. 


183 


9. Which doeth great things and unsearchable, 
marvellous things without number; 

11. To set up on high those that be loiv, that those 
which mourn may be exalted to safety. 

16 . So the poor have hope, and iniquity stoppeth 
her mouth. 

17. Behold, happy is the man whom God correct¬ 
ed ; therefore despise not thou the chastening of the 
Almighty. 

18. For he maketh sore, and bindeth up ; he 
woundeth, and his hands make whole. 

19. He shall deliver thee in six troubles ; yea, in 
seven there shall no evil touch thee. 

26. Thou shalt come to thy grave in a just age, 
like as a shock of corn cometh in its season. 

Ps. lxiii. 6. I remember thee upon my bed, and 
meditate upon thee in the night watches. 7. Because 
thou hast been my help, therefore under the shadow 
of thy wings will I rejoice. 8. My soul followed 
hard after thee ; for thy right hand hath upholden me. 

Psal. xxiii. 3. God restored my soul: he leaded 
me in the path of righteousness, for his name's sake. 
4. Tea, though I walk through the valley of the shado w 
of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me ; 
thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. 

Psal. xxvii. 5. In the time of trouble he shall hide 
me in his pavilion ; in the secret of his tabernacle 
shall he hide me, he shall set me upon a rock. 

Psal. cii. 19. The Lord hath looked down from 
the height of his sanctuary, from the heaven did the 


184 


PRACTICE OF THE GRACE [Ch. IV. 


Lord behold the earth : 20. To hear the groaning of 
his prisoners ; to loose those that are appointed to 
death. 

Psal. lxxvii. 1 . I cried unto God with my voice , 
even unto God with my voice, and he gave ear unto 
me. 2. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord ; 
my sore ran in the night, and ceased not; my sold, 
refused to be comforted. 3. I remembered God, and 
was troubled: I complained, and my spirit ivas over- 
whelmed. 4. Thou boldest mine eyes waking: lam 
so troubled that I cannot speak. 7. Will the Lord 
cast me off for ever ? and will he be favorable no 
more ? 8 .Is his mercy clean gone for ever ? doth 

his promise fail for evermore ? 9. Hath God for¬ 

gotten to be gracious ? hath he in anger shut up his 
tender mercies ? 10. And I said, This is my in¬ 

firmity : but I ivill remember the years of the right 
hand of the Most High. 

1 Cor. x. 13. No temptation hath taken me but 
such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who 
will not suffer me to be tempted above what I am - 
able ; but ivill with the temptation also make a way 
to escape, that 1 may be able to bear it. 

Rom. xv. 4. Whatsoever things were written afore¬ 
time were written for our learning, that we through 
patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have 
hope. 5. Now the God of peace and consolation 
grant me to be so minded. 

1 Sam. iii. 18. It is the Lord, let him do what 
seemeth good in his eyes. 


Sect. 2.J 


OF PATIENCE IN SICKNESS. 


185 


Surely the word that the Lord hath spoken is 
very good ; but thy servant is weak. O remember 
mine infirmities ; and lift thy servant up, that lean- 
eth upon thy right hand. 

2 Cor. xii. 7. There is given unto me a thorn in 
the jlesh to buffet me. 8. For this thing I besought 
the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9. 
And he said unto me, Mg grace is sufficient for thee ; 
for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most 
gladly therefore will I glory in my inf unities, that 
the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10. For 
when I am weak, then am I strong. 

Lam. iii. 58. O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes 
of my soul ; thou hast redeemed my life. 18. And 1 
said, My strength and my hope is in the Lord ; 19. 

Remembering my affliction and my misery, the worm¬ 
wood and the gall. 20. My soul hath them still in 
remembrance, and is humbled within me. 

21. This 1 recall to my mind, therefore I have 
hope. 

22. It is the lord's mercies that we are not con¬ 
sumed, because his compassions fail not. 23. They 
are new every morning ; great is thy faithfulness. 
24. The I-jord is my portion, said my soul, therefore 
will I hope in him. 

25. The Lord is good to them that wait for him, 
to the soul that seeketh him. 2G. It is good that a 
man should both hope, and quietly wait for the salva¬ 
tion of the Lord. 31. For the Lord will not cast 
offfor ever. 32. But though he cause grief, yet will 


186 


PRACTICE OF THE GRACE [Ch. IV. 


he have compassion according to the multitude of his 
mercies. 33. For he doth not afflict willingly, nor 
grieve the children of men. 

39. Wherefore doth a living man complain, a 
man for the punishment of his sins? Job xiv. 13. 
0 that thou wouldst hide me in the grave [of Jesus], 
that thou wouldst keep me secret until thy wrath he 
past! that thou woiddst appoint me a set time, and 
remember me ! 

Job. ii. 10. Shall we receive good at the hand of 
God , and shall we not receive evil ? 

The Sick Man may recite, or hear recited, the fol¬ 
lowing Psalms in the intervals of his agony. 

I. 

Psal. vi. 1. LORD, rebuke me not in thine 

anger, neither chasten me in thy 

hot displeasure. 

2. Have mercy upon me, 0 Lord, for I am weak; 
0 Lord, heal me, for my bones are vexed. 

3. My soul is also sore vexed ; but thou, 0 Lord, 
how long ? 

4. Return, 0 Lord, deliver my soul; 0 save me 
for thy mercies’ sake. 

5. For in death no man remembereth thee ; in the 
grave who shall give thee thanks ? 

6. I am weary with my groaning ; all the night 
make I my bed to swim: I water my couch with my 
tears , 


Sect. 2.] OF PATIENCE IN SICKNESS. 


187 


7. Mine eye is consumed because of grief: it wax- 
eth old because of all my [sorrows]. 

8. Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity ; 
for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. 

9. The Lord hath heard my supplication ; the 
Lord will receive my prayer. 


Blessed be the Lord, who hath heard my prayer, 
and hath not turned his mercy from me. 

II. 

Psal. xi. 1. TN the Lord, put I my trust: how say 
X yc to my soul, Flee as a bird to your 

mountain ? 

4. The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord’s throne 
is in heaven ; his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the chil¬ 
dren of men. 

Psal. xvi. 1. Preserve me, 0 God, for in thee do 
I put my trust. 

2. 0 my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou 
art my Lord ; my goodness extendeth not to thee. 

5. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance 
and of my cup ; thou maintainest my lot. 

1. 1 will bless the Lord, who hath given me coun¬ 
sel ; my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. 

8. I have set the Lord always before me ; because 
he is at my right hand, T shall not be moved. 

9. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory re- 
joiceth ; my flesh also shall rest in hope. 



188 


PRACTICE OF THE GRACE 


[Ch. IV. 


11. Thou wilt show me the path of life ; in thy 
presence is the fulness of joy ; at thy right hand there 
are pleasures for evermore. 

Psal. xvii. 15. As for me, 1 will behold thy face 
in righteousness ; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, 
with thy likeness. 


m. 

Ps. xxxi. 9. TT AYE mercy upon me, O Lord,for 
1 jl I am in trouble ; mine eye is con¬ 
sumed with grief; yea, my soul and my belly. 

10. For my life is spent with grief, and my years 
with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine 
iniquity, and my bones are consumed. 

12. I am like a broken vessel, 

14. But I trusted in thee, 0 Lord ; I said, Thou 
art my God. 

15. My times are in thy hand: 16. Make thy face 
to shine upon thy servant; save me for thy mercies ’ 
sake. 

Psal. xxvii. 8. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face ; 
my heart said unto thee, Thy face, I^ord, will I seek. 

9. Hide not thy face from me ; put not thy servant 
away in thine anger: thou hast been my help ; leave 
me not, neither forsake me, 0 God of my salvation. 

13. / had fainted, unless I had believed to see the 
goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. 

Psal. xxxi. 19. 0 how great is thy goodness, which 
thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou 


Sect. 2.] OF PATIENCE IN SICKNESS. 


189 


hast wrought for them that trust in thee, before the 
sons of men. 

20. Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy pres¬ 
ence from the pride of man ; thou shalt keep them 
secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues [from 
the calumnies and aggravation of sins by devils]. 

22. I said in my haste, I am cut off from before 
thine eyes: nevertheless, thou heardest the voice of my 
supplication when I cried unto thee. 

23. 0 love the Lord , cdl ye his saints, for the Lord 
preserveth the faith fid, and plenteously rewardeth the 
proud doer . „ 

24. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen 
your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. 

The Prayer to be said in the beginning of a Sickness. 

O ALMIGHTY God, merciful and gracious, 
who in thy justice didst send sorrow and 
tears, sickness and death into the world, as a punish¬ 
ment for man’s sins, and hast comprehended all 
under sin and this sad covenant of sufferings, not to 
destroy us, but that thou mightest have mercy upon all, 
making thy justice to minister to mercy, short afflic¬ 
tions to an eternal weight of glory; as thou hast 
turned my sins into sickness, so turn my sickness to 
the advantages of holiness and religion, of mercy 
and pardon, of faith and hope, of grace and glory. 
Thou hast now called me to the fellowship of suffer¬ 
ings: Lord, by the instrument of religion let my 




190 


PRACTICE OF THE GRACE [Ch. IV. 


present condition be so sanctified, that my sufferings 
may be united to the sufferings of my Lord, that so 
thou mayest pity me and assist me. Relieve my 
sorrow, and support my spirit: direct my thoughts, 
and sanctify the accidents of my sickness, and that 
the punishment of my sin may be the school of vir¬ 
tue : in which since thou hast now entered me, 
Lord, make me a holy proficient; that I may behave 
myself as a son under discipline, humbly and obedi¬ 
ently, evenly and penitently, that I may come by 
this means nearer unto thee ; that if I shall go forth 
of this sickness by the gate of life and health, I may 
return to the world with great strengths of spirit to 
run a new race of a stricter holiness, and a more 
severe religion: or if I pass from hence with the 
outlet of death, I may enter into the bosom of my 
Lord, and may feel the present joys of a certain 
hope of that sea of pleasures in which all thy saints 
and servants shall be comprehended to eternal ages. 
Grant this for Jesus Christ his sake, our dearest 
Lord and Saviour. Amen. 

An Act of Resignation to be said by a Sick Person 

in all the evil accidents of his Sickness. 

« 

ETERNAL God, thou hast made me and 



V^/ sustained me, thou hast blessed me in all the 
days of my life, and hast taken care of me in all 
variety of accidents, and nothing happens to me in 
vain, nothing without thy providence; and I know 


Sect. 2.] OF PATIENCE IN SICKNESS. 191 

thou smitest thy servants in mercy, and with designs 
of the greatest pity in the world. Lord, I humbly 
lie down under thy rod; do with me as thou pleas- 
est; do tliou choose for me, not only the whole 
state and condition of being, but every little and 
great accident of it. Keep me safe by thy grace, 
and then use what instrument thou pleasest of 
bringing me to thee. Lord, I am not solicitous of 
the passage, so I may get thee. Only, O Lord, 
remember my infirmities, and let thy servant rejoice 
in thee always, and feel and confess and glory in 
thy goodness. O be thou as delightful to me in 
this my medicinal sickness, as ever thou wert in any 
of the dangers of my prosperity: let me not peev¬ 
ishly refuse thy pardon at the rate of a severe dis¬ 
cipline. I am thy servant and thy creature, thy 
purchased possession and thy son: I am all thine ; 
and because thou hast mercy in store for all that 
trust in thee, I cover mine eyes, and in silence wait 
for the time of my redemption. Amen. 

A Prayer for the Grace of Patience. 

M OST merciful and gracious Father, who in 
the redemption of lost mankind by the pas¬ 
sion of thy most holy Son hast established a cove¬ 
nant of sufferings, I bless and magnify thy name 
that thou hast adopted me into the inheritance of 
sons, and hast given me a portion of my elder 
Brother. Lord, the cross falls heavy and sits 




192 


PRACTICE OF THE GRACE [Cir. IV. 


uneasy upon my shoulders ; my spirit is willing , but 
my flesh is weak. I humbly beg of thee that I may 
now rejoice in this thy dispensation and effect of 
providence. I know and am persuaded that thou 
art then as gracious when thou smitest us for 
amendment or trial, as when thou relievest our 
wearied bodies in compliance with our infirmity. 
I rejoice, O Lord, in thy rare and mysterious mercy, 
who by sufferings hast turned our misery into ad¬ 
vantages unspeakable : for so thou makest us like 
to thy Son, and givest us a- gift that the angels 
never did receive: for they cannot die in confor¬ 
mity to and imitation of their Lord and ours; but, 
blessed be thy name, we can, and, dearest Lord, let 
it be so. Amen. 


II. 

T HOU who art the God of patience, and con¬ 
solation, strengthen me in the inner man, 
that I may bear the yoke and burden of the Lord 
without any uneasy and useless murmurs, and in¬ 
effective unwillingness. Lord, I am unable to stand 
under the cross, unable of myself: but thou, O 
holy Jesus, who didst feel the burden of it, who 
didst sink under it, and wert pleased to admit a 
man to bear part of the load, when thou under- 
wentest all for him, be thou pleased to ease this 
load by fortifying my spirit, that I may be strongest. 
when I am weakest, and may be able to do and 


Sect. 2.] OF PATIENCE IN SICKNESS. 


193 


suffer everything tliou pleasest, through Christ 
which strengthens me. Lord, if thou wilt support 
me, I will for ever praise thee; if thou wilt suffer 
the load to press me yet more heavily, I will cry 
unto thee, and complain unto my God; and at last 
I will lie down and die, and by the mercies and in¬ 
tercessions of the holy Jesus, and the conduct of 
thy blessed Spirit, and the ministry of angels, pass 
into those mansions where holy souls rest, and weep 
no more. Lord, pity me; Lord, sanctify this my 
sickness. Lord, strengthen me ; holy Jesus, save 
me, and deliver me. Thou knowest how shamefully 
I have fallen with pleasure ; in thy mercy and very 
pity, let me not fall with pain too. O let me never 
charge God foolishly , nor offend thee by my impa¬ 
tience and uneasy spirit, nor weaken the hands and 
hearts of those that charitably minister to my needs : 
but let me pass through the valley of tears and the 
valley of the shadow of death with safety and peace, 
with a meek spirit and a sense of the divine mercies: 
and though thou breakest me in pieces, my hope is, 
thou wilt gather me up in the gatherings of eternity. 
Grant this, eternal God, gracious Father, for the 
merits and intercession of our merciful High Priest, 
who once suffered for me, and for ever intercedes 
for me, our most gracious and ever-blessed Saviour, 
Jesus. 


9 3 


M 




194 


PRACTICE OF FAITH 


[Ch. IV. 


A Prayer to be said when the Sick Man takes Physic. 

O MOST blessed and eternal Jesus, thou who 
art the great Physician of our souls, and the 
Sun of righteousness arising with healing in thy 
wings , to thee is given by thy Heavenly Father the 
government of all the world, and thou disposest 
every great and little accident to thy Father’s 
honor, and to the good comfort of them that love 
and serve thee. Be pleased to bless the ministry 
of thy servant in order to my ease and health, direct 
his judgment, prosper the medicines, and dispose 
the chances of my sickness fortunately, that I may 
feel the blessing and loving-kindness of the Lord in 
the ease of my pain, and the restitution of my 
health; that I, being restored to the society of the 
living and to thy solemn assemblies, may praise thee 
and thy goodness, secretly among the faithful, and 
in the congregation of thy redeemed ones, here in 
the outer courts of the Lord, and hereafter in thy 
eternal temple for ever and ever. Amen. 


Sect. III. 


Of the Practice of the Grace of Faith 
in the time of Sickness. 


N OVk is the time in which faith appears most 
necessary and most difficult. It is the foun¬ 
dation of a good life, and the foundation of all our 
hopes ; it is that without which we cannot live well, 
and without which we cannot die well; it is a grace 




Sect. 3.] 


IN TIME OF SICKNESS. 


195 


that then we shall need to support our spirits, to 
sustain our hopes, to alleviate our sickness, to resist 
temptations, to prevent despair. Upon the belief 
of the articles of our religion, we can do the works 
of a holy life; but upon belief of the promises, we 
can bear our sickness patiently, and die cheerfully. 
The sick man may practise it in the following in¬ 
stances. 

1. Let the sick man he careful that he do not 
admit of any doubt concerning that which he believed 
and received from common consent in his best health 
and days of election and religion. For if the Devil 
can but prevail so far as to unfix and unrivet the 
resolution and confidence or fulness of assent, it is 
easy for him so to unwind the spirit, that from why 
to whether or no, from whether or no to scarcely not, 
from scarcely not to absolutely not at all, are steps 
of a descending and falling spirit: and whatsoever 
a man is made to doubt of by the weakness of his 
understanding in a sickness, it will be hard to get 
an instrument strong or subtile enough to reinforce 
and insure. For when the strengths are gone by 
which faith held, and it does not stand firm by the 
weight of its own bulk and great constitution, nor 
yet by the cordage of a tenacious root; then it is 
prepared for a ruin which it cannot escape in the 
•tempests of a sickness and the assaults of a devil. 
Discourse and argument, the line of tradition and a 
never-failing experience, the Spirit of God, and the 
truth of miracles, the word of prophecy and the 


196 


PRACTICE OF FAITH 


[Ch. IV. 


bus hasrens, 

Pondere flxa suo. 

Lucan, i. 138. 


blood of martyrs, the excellency of the doctrine and 
the necessity of men, the riches of the promises and 
the wisdom of the revelations, the reasonableness 
and sublimity, the concordance and the usefulness 
of the articles, and their compliance with all the 
needs of man and the government of common¬ 
wealths, are like the strings and branches of the 
roots by which faith stands firm and immovable in 
the spirit and understanding of a man. But in 
sickness the understanding is shaken, and the 
ground is removed in which the root did grapple 
and support its trunk; and therefore there is no 

-Necjam validisradici- wa J HOW blit that it be left to 

stand upon the old confidences, 
and by the firmament of its own 
weight. It must be left to stand, because it always 
stood there before: and as it stood all his lifetime 
in the ground of understanding , so it must now be 
supported with will and a fixed resolution. But 
disputation tempts it, and shakes it with trying, 

Sanctiusqueacreverentius a nd OYeitlllOWS it with shaking. 

dere quam scire. Above all tilings ill tile WOl'ld, 

Tac. Germ. 34. ] efc ^ g j c k man f ear a proposi¬ 
tion which his sickness hath put into him contrary 
to the discourses of health, and a sobei 4 untroubled 
reason. 

2. Let the sick man mingle the recital of his creed 
A , together with his devotions , and 

Fidestua te salvum fecit; 

non excrcitatio Scripture- in that let him aCCOUUt his faitll ,* 
rum. Fides in reguln posita ... J 

cst (scii. in symboio quod not in curiosity and factions, in 


Sect. 3.] 


IN TIME OF SICKNESS. 


197 


the confessions of parties and jam recitaverat); habet le- 

. ' gem, et salutem de observa- 

mterest; for some over-forward tionelegisiexercitatioautem 

in curiositate consist!!, ha- 

zeals are SO earnest to profess bens gloriam solam de peri- 

. . tiae studio. Cedat curiositas 

their little and uncertain arti- Men cedat gloria saiuti. 

■, i i . Tertul. De Prcescript. c. 14. 

cles, and glory so to die in a 
particular and divided communion, that in the pro¬ 
fession of their faith they lose or s . Augustinus vocat sym- 
discompose their charity. Let 

it be enough that we secure our “ c p ™* cJ^^'L^Sns" 
interest of heaven, though we do sjgnacuium, et nostra? mm- 

not go about to appropriate the De Virg - iU - 4 - 20 - 
mansions to our sect: for every good man hopes to 
be saved as he is a Christian, NonpcrdifficiiesnosDeus 
and not as he is a Lutheran, or 
of another division. However, ““iTSiS" 
those articles upon which he can "! ras0 

J Dominum confiten. 

build the exercise of any virtue s. Hilar. Be Trim. x. 70 . 
in his sickness, or upon the stock ot which he can 
improve his piesent condition, Ila?c est Mes catliolica, de 
are such as consist in the great¬ 
ness and goodness , the veracity 
and mercy of God through Jesus 
Christ; nothing of which can be 
concerned in the fond disputa¬ 
tions which faction and inter¬ 
est hath too long maintained 
in Christendom. 

3. Let the sick man's faith especially be active 
about the promises of grace and the excellent things 
of the Gospel; those which can comfort his sor- 


symbolo suo dixit Athana¬ 
sius, vel quicunque auctor 
est. 

'H yap ev avrfj irapa 
Tax' narepwi' Kara ra? 
Oetag ypa<f>ag o/xoAoyrjdei- 
cra nicTTLS avTapKTjs ecrri 
7rpo9 avaTpoirr)V p.ev na<n)s 
acre^eta?, avaraatv Se Trjs 
ev(7ej8eias ev Xpurraj. 

S. Athanas. Ep. adEpict. 
c. 1. 




198 


PRACTICE OF FAITH 


[Ch. IV. 


rows, and enable his patience ; those upon the hopes 
of which he did the duties of his life, and for which 
he is not unwilling to die; such as the intercession 
and advocation of Christ, remission of sins, the 
resurrection, the mysterious arts and mercies of 
man’s redemption, Christ’s triumph over death and 
all the powers of hell, the covenant.of grace, or the 
blessed issues of repentance ; and above all, the 
article of eternal life, upon the strength of which 
eleven thousand virgins went cheerfully together 
to tjieir martyrdom, and twenty thousand Christians 

Niceph. vii. 6. were burned by Dioclesian on a 

Tertui. Ad sca P . c. 5. Christmas-day, and whole armies 

of Asian Christians offered themselves to the tribu¬ 
nals of Arius Antonius, and whole colleges of severe 
persons were instituted, who lived upon religion, 
whose dinner was the eucharist, whose supper was 
praise, and their nights were watches, and their days 
were labor ; for the hope of which then men counted 
it gain to lose their estates, and gloried in their suf¬ 
ferings, and rejoiced in their persecutions, and were 
glad at their disgraces. This is the article that 
hath made all the martyrs of Christ confident and 
glorious ; and if it does not more than sufficiently 
strengthen our spirits to the present suffering, it is 
because we understand it not, but have the appe¬ 
tites of beasts and fools. But if the sick man fixes 
his thoughts and sets his habitation to dwell here, 
he swells his hope, and masters his fears, and eases 
his sorrows, and overcomes his temptations. 


Sect. 3.] 


IN TIME OF SICKNESS. 


199 


4. Let the sick man endeavor to turn his faith of 
the articles into the love of them ; and that will be 
an excellent instrument not only to refresh his sor¬ 
rows, hut to •confirm his faith in defiance of all 
temptations. For a sick man and a disturbed 
understanding are not competent and fit instru¬ 
ments to judge concerning the reasonableness of a 
proposition. But. therefore let him consider and 
love it, because it is useful and necessary, profitable 
and gracious: and when he is once in love with it, 
and then also renews his love to it when he feels 
the need of it, he is an interested person, and for 
his own sake will never let it go, and pass into the 
shadows of doubting, or the utter darkness of infi¬ 
delity. An act of love will make him have a mind 
to it; and we easily believe what we love, but very 
uneasily part with our belief which we for so great 
an interest have chosen, and entertained with a 
great affection. 

5. Let the sick person he in finitely careful that his 
faith he not tempted hy any man , or any thing ; and 
when it is in any degree weakened , let him lay fast 
hold upon the conclusion , upon the article itself, and 
by earnest prayer beg of God to guide him in cer¬ 
tainty and safety. For let him consider that the arti¬ 
cle is better than all its contrary or contradictory, and 
he is concerned that it be true, and concerned also 
that he do believe it; but he can receive no good 
at all if Christ did not die, if there be no resurrec¬ 
tion, if his creed hath deceived him; therefore all 




200 


PRACTICE OF FAITH 


[Ch. IV. 


that lie is to do is to secure his hold, which he can 
do no way but by prayer and by his interest. And 
by this argument or instrument it was that Socrates 
refreshed the evil of his condition, when he was to 
drink his aconite: “ If the soul be immortal, and 

perpetual rewards be laid up for 

In Phaedon. L . 1 , _ . , . 

wise souls, then 1 lose nothing 
by my death : but if there be not, then I lose noth¬ 
ing by my opinion ; for it supports my spirit in my 
passage, and the evil of being deceived cannot over¬ 
take me when I have no being. So it is with all 
that are tempted in their faith. If those articles be 
not true, then the men are nothing; if they be true, 
then they are happy : and if the articles fail, there 
can be no punishment for believing ; but if they be 
true, my not believing destroys all my portion in 
them, and possibility to receive the excellent things 
which they contain. By faith we quench the fiery 
darts of the Devil; but if our faith be quenched, 
wherewithal shall we be able to endure the as¬ 
sault ? Therefore seize upon the article, and secure 
the great object and the great instrument; that is, 
the hopes of pardon and eternal life through Jesus 
Christ; and do this by all means, and by any in¬ 
strument, artificial or inartificial, by argument or by 
stratagem, by perfect resolution or by discourse, by 
the hand and ears of premises, or the foot of the 
conclusion, by right or by wrong, because we under¬ 
stand it, or because we love it, super totarn materiam , 
because I will and because I ought, because it is 


Sect. 4.] 


IN TIME OF SICKNESS. 


201 


safe to do so, and because it is not safe to do other¬ 
wise ; because if I do, I may receive a good, and 
because if I do not, I am miserable ; either for that 
1 shall have a portion of sorrows, or that I can have 
no portion of good things, without it. 

Sect. IV. — Acts of Faith, by way of Prayer and 

Ejaculation, to be said by Sick Men in the days 

of their Temptation. 

John vi. 68. T ORD, whither shall I go? thou hast 
1 J the words of eternal life. 

I believe in God the Father Almighty, and in Jesus 
Christ his only Son our Lord, &c. 

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, &c. 

Mark ix. 24. Lord, L believe : help thou mine un¬ 
belief 

Rom. xiv. 7. 1 know and am persuaded by the 
Lord Jesus, that none of us liveth to himself and no 
man dieth to himself: 8. For whether we live, we 
live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto 
the Lord ; whether we live, therefore, or die, we are 
the Lord's. 

Rom. viii. 31. Lf God be for us, who can be 
against us ? 

32. He that spared not Ins own Son, but delivered 
nm up for us all, how shall he not with him give us 
all things ? 

33. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's 
elect ? It is God that just if eth. 34. Who is he that 

9 * 


202 


PRACTICE OF FAITH 


[Cii. IV. 


condemneth ? It is Christ that died: yea, rather 
that is risen again , who is even at the right hand of 
God, who also maketh intercession for as. 

1 John ii. 1. If any man sin, we have an Advo¬ 
cate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous : 2. 
And he is the propitiation for our sins. 

1 Tim. i. 15. This is a faithful saying, and worthy 
of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the 
world to save sinners. 

O grant that I may obtain mercy, that in me 
Jesus Christ may show forth all long-suffering, that 
I may believe in him to life everlasting. 

2 Thes. ii. 13. Iam hound to give thanks unto God 
always, because God hath from the beginning chosen 
me to salvation , through sanctification of the Spirit, 
and belief of the truth ; 14. Whereunto he called me 
by the Gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. 

16. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, 
even our Father, which hath loved -us, and hath given 
us everlasting consolation and good hope through 
grace, 17. Comfort my heart, and stablish me in 
every good word and work. 

2 Thes. iii. 5, The Lord direct my heart into 
the love of God, and into the patient waiting for 
Christ. 

2 Thes. i. 11. O that our God would count me 
worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure 
of his goodness, and the work of faith with power ; 
12. That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may 


Sect 4.] 


IN TIME OF SICKNESS. 


203 


be glorified in me, and I in him, according to the 
grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

1 Thes. v. 8. Let us who are of the day be sober, 
putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for 
an helmet the hope of salvation. 9. For God hath 
not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by 
our Lord Jesus Christ, 10. Who died for us, that 
whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with 
him. 11. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and 
edify one another. 

Acts, iv. 12. There is no name under heaven 
whereby we can be saved but only the name of the 
Lord Jesus. Acts iii. 23. And every sold which will 
not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among 
the people. 

Gal. vi. 14. God forbid that L should glory save 
in the cross of Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. ii. 2. L desire 
to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified. 
Phil. i. 21. For to me to live is Christ, and to die 
is gain. 

Isaiah ii. 22. Cease ye from man, whose breath is 
in his nostrils ; for wherein is he to be accounted of? 
Ilab. ii. 4. But the just shall live by faith. 

John xi. 27. Lord, L believe that thou art the 
Christ, the Son of God; John iv. 42. the Saviour 
of the world; John xi. 25. the resurrection and the 
life ; and he that believeth in thee, though he were 
dead, yet shall he live. 

40. Jesus said unto her, Said L not to thee, that, 
if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of 
God? 


204 


PRACTICE OF FAITH 


[Ch. IV. 


1 Cor. xv. 55. 0 death, where is thy sting ? 0 

grave, where is thy victory ? 56. The sting of death 
is sin, and the strength of sin is the law ; 57. But 
thanks he to God, who giveth us the victory through 
our Lord Jesus Christ. 58. Lord, make me stead¬ 
fast and unmovable, always abounding in the ivork 
of the Lord; for I know that my labor is not in 
vain in the Lord. 


The Prayer for the Grace and Strength of Faith. 

O HOLY and eternal Jesus, who didst die for 
me and for all mankind, abolishing our sin, 
reconciling us to God, adopting us into the portion 
of thine heritage, and establishing with us a cove¬ 
nant of faith and obedience, making our souls to 
rely upon spiritual strengths, by the supports of a 
holy belief, and the expectation of rare promises, 
and the infallible truths of God: O let me for ever 
dwell upon the rock, leaning upon thy arm, believ¬ 
ing thy word, trusting in thy promises, waiting for 
thy mercies, and doing thy commandments that the 
Devil may not prevail upon me, and my own weak¬ 
nesses may not abuse or unsettle my persuasions, 
nor my sins discompose my just confidence in thee 
and thy eternal mercies. Let me always be thy 
servant and thy disciple, and die in the communion 
of thy Church, of all faithful people. Lord I re¬ 
nounce whatsoever is against thy truth; and if 
secretly I have or do believe any false proposition, 


Sect. 5.] 


IN TIME OF SICKNESS. 


205 


I do it in the simplicity of my heart and great 
weakness ; and if I could discover it, would dash it 
in pieces by a solemn disclaiming it: for thou art 
the way, the truth, and the life. And I know that 
whatsoever thou hast declared, that is the truth of 
God: and I do firmly adhere to the religion thou 
hast taught, and glory in nothing so much as that I 
am a Christian, that thy name is called upon me. 
O my God, though I die, yet will I put my trust in 
thee. In thee, 0 Lord, have I trusted; let me never 
he confounded. Amen. 


Sect. V. — Of the Practice of the Grace of Repent¬ 
ance in the time of Sickness. 

M EN generally do very much dread sudden 
death, and pray against it passionately ; 
and certainly it hath in it great inconveniences ac¬ 
cidentally to men’s estates, to the settlement of 
families, to the culture and trimming of souls, and 

it robs a man of the blessings Descendisti ad Olympia; 
i • i i „„„ 4 .^ si nemo praeter te, coronam 

which may be consequent to habeS) vic q oriam 

non habcs. 

sickness, and to the passive sen. ne Prow. c. 4, § 2 . 

graces and holy contentions of a Christian, while 
he descends to his grave without an adversary or a 
trial: and a good man may be taken at such a dis¬ 
advantage, that a sudden death would be a great 
evil, even to the most excellent person, if it strikes 
him in an unlucky circumstance. But these con¬ 
siderations are not the only ingredients into those 


206 


PRACTICE OF REPENTANCE [Ch. IV. 


men’s discourse who pray violently against sudden 
deaths ; for possibly, if this were all, there may be 
in the condition of sudden death something to make 
recompense for the evils of the over-hasty accident. 
For certainly it is a less temporal evil to fall by 
the rudeness of a sword than the violences of a 
fever ; and the axe is much less affliction than a 
strangury ; and though a sickness tries our virtues, 
Mitius iiie peril »bita ,ui vet a sudden death is free from 
0 ™n e ™“V«iit'»iiiisbra- temptation: a sickness maybe 
d orid“Cl U po»».ui. more glorious, and a sudden 
7 - 27 * death more safe. The deadest 

deaths are best, the shortest and least premeditate, 

* piut. jui. Cess. c. 63. so Caesar* said: and Pliny t 
t ihst. Nat. -vti. 54. called a short death the greatest 

fortune of a man's life . For even good men have 

been forced to an indecency of 

Etiam innocentes mentiri , ^ 

cogit dolor. deportment by the violences of 

Publius Syrus. . 

pain: and Cicero observes con¬ 
cerning Hercules, that he was broken in pieces with 

pain even then when he fought 

Ipse illigatus peste interi- ‘ . ° 

mor textiii. for immortality by his death, 

Cic. Tusc. ii. 8. 1 “ 

being tortured with a plague 
knit up in the lappet of his shirt. And therefore 
as a sudden death certainly loses the rewards of a 
holy sickness, so it makes that a man shall not so 
much hazard and lose the rewards of a holy life. 

But the secret of this affair is a worse matter; 
men live at that rate either of an habitual wicked¬ 
ness, or else a frequent repetition of single acts of 


Sect. 5.] 


IN TIME OF SICKNESS. 


207 


killing and deadly sins, that a sudden death is the 
ruin of all their hopes, and a perfect consignation 
to an eternal sorrow. But in this case also so is a 
lingering sickness: for our sickness may change us 
from life to health, from health to strength, from 
strength to the firmness and confirmation of habitual 
graces; but it cannot change a man from death to 
life, and begin and finish that process, which sits 
not down but in the bosom of blessedness. He that 
washes in the morning when his bath is seasonable 


and healthful, is not only made clean, but sprightly, 
and the blood is brisk and colored like the first 
springing of the morning; but they that^ wash then- 
dead cleanse the skin, and leave paleness upon the 
cheek, and stiffness in all the joints. A repentance 
upon our death-bed is like washing the corpse ; it 
is cleanly and civil, but makes no change deeper 
than the skin. But God knows 

Lavor nonesta nora ct salu- 

it is a custom so to wash them bri - <i uae mihi ct c;,lorem ct 

sanguineni servet: rigere et 

that are going to dwell with pallere post lavacrum mor- 

~ € t tuus possum. 

dust, and to be buried in the Tertui. Apoi. c. 42. 

, - 7 . 7.77 ,7 1, -Cognata face sepulti. 

lap oj their kindred earth; but 
all their lifetime wallow in pollutions without any 
washing at all, or if they do, it AapSavet? roi>? awo rJjs 
is like that of the Dardani, who ’ IAAv P‘' 5 <* / t p 1s 

AoueaOcu /jlovov irapa now- 

wash but thrice all their time, ra tov eavriov fiiov, 

, ,, i i „ (iSiVwv, /cal vawoOi'Ta?, 

when they are horn, and when ^ 
they marry, and when they die ; -® lian - Var - Uist - iv - 1 - 
when they are baptized, or against a solemnity, or 
for the day of their funeral: but these are but cere- 


208 


PRACTICE OF REPENTANCE [Ch. IV. 


monious washings, and never purify the soul, if it 
be stained and hath sullied the whiteness of its 
baptismal robes. 

God intended we should live a holy life ; he con- 

tracted with us in Jesus Christ 

Vide Aug. lib. 1. Horn. 4 

[Serm. lv. opp. v. App. coi. for a holy life ; he made no 

lOl], etSerm.57.de Tempore J 

[Serm. cciv. Opp. v. App. abatements of the strictest sense 

col. 418]. — Faustum ad Pau- 

Unum, Ep. i.in Bibiioth. Pp. of it, but such as did necessarily 

tom. v. vet. edit.—Concil. . 

Areiat. i. c. 3[22?].— Carthag. comply with human infirmities 
iv. cap. 7 , 8 [78?]. . ,, , . . 

or impossibilities ; that is, he 
understood it in the sense of repentance, which still 
is so to renew our duty that it may be a holy life 
in the second sense ; that is, some great proportion 
of our life to be spent in living as Christians should. 
A resolving to repent upon our death-bed is the 
greatest mockery of God in the world, and the most 
perfect contradictory to all his excellent designs of 
mercy and holiness; for therefore he threatened us 
with hell if we did not, and he promised a heaven 
— Qn>s luce suprema if we did li\ e a liolj life , and a 
D gemitho"a e sT 8ero non in ‘ late repentance promises heaven 
sii. itai. xv. go. £ 0 ug U p 0n other conditions, even 

when we have lived wickedly. It renders a man 
useless and intolerable to the world, taking off the 

great curb of religion, of fear 

Sic contra rcrum naturae mu- ° 

ncranota, and hope, and permitting all im- 

Corvus maturis frugibus , 

ova refert. piety with the greatest impunity 

Petron. Frag. p. 878 . / ° . 1 ; 

and encouragement in the world. 

o 

By this means we sec so many 7 rcii$as it oXv^poviovs, 
as Philo calls them, or as the prophet, pneros centum 


Sect. 5.] 


IN TIME OF SICKNESS. 


209 


Is. lxv, 20. 


In Adrian. 

evTavOa tcelra-i, jStous /xeu 
err) roua, extras Se err) 
enTa. 

Hist. Bom. lxix. 19. 


annorum , children of almost an hundred years old, 
upon whose grave we may write 
the inscription which was upon 
the tomb of Similis in Xiphilin, “ Here he lies who 
teas so many years, but lived but 
seven * 5 And the course of na¬ 
ture runs counter to the perfect 
designs of piety : and God, who 
gave us a life to live to him, is only served at our 
death, when we die to all the world; and we under¬ 
value the great promises made 

° Vide the Life of Christ, 

by the holy Jesus, for which the Disc, of Repentance; Rule 

. . of Holy Living, chap. 4. Sect. 

piety, the strictest unerring piety of Repentance; and Vol. of 
, , Serin., Serm. 5,6. 

or ten thousand ages is not a pro¬ 
portionable exchange; yet we think it a hard bar¬ 
gain to get heaven, if we be forced to part with one 
lust, or live soberly twenty years ; but like Deme- 
triuS Afer, (who having lived a NctamenadStygiasfamulus 
slave all his lifetime, yet desir- 


deseenderet umbras, 
Urerct implicitum cum see¬ 
ing to descend to his grave in Cav ^ t s a < lueB ’ 


freedom, begged manumission of 


Mart. Epig. i. 102. 5. 


his lord,) we live in the bondage of our sin all our 
days, and hope to die the Lord’s freedmen. But 
above all, this course of a delayed rejientance must 
of necessity therefore be ineffective, and certainly 
mortal, because it is an entire destruction of the very 
formality and essential constituent reason of relig¬ 
ion ; which I thus demonstrate. 

When God made man, and propounded to him 
an immortal and a blessed state as the end of his 


N 


210 


PRACTlCE OF REPENTANCE [Ch. IV. 


hopes and the perfection of his condition, he did not 
give it him for nothing, but upon certain conditions ; 
which although they could add nothing to God, yet 
they were such things which man could value, and 
they were Ins best: and God had made appetites 
of pleasure in man, that in them the scene of his 
obedience should lie. For when God made in¬ 
stances of man’s obedience, he 1. either commanded 
such things to be done, which man did naturally 
desire, or 2. such things which did contradict his 
natural desires, or 3. such which were indifferent. 
Not the first and the last; for it could be no effect 
of love or duty towards God for a man to eat when 
he was impatiently hungry, and could not stay 
from eating; neither was it any contention of obedi¬ 
ence or labor of love for a man to look eastward 
once a day, or turn his back when the north wind 
blew fierce and loud. Therefore for the trial and 
instance of obedience, God made his laws so that 
they should lay restraint upon man’s appetites, so 
that man might part with something of his own, 
that he may give to God his will, and deny it to 
himself for the interest of his service: and chastity 
is the denial of a violent desire; and justice is part¬ 
ing with money that might help to enrich me; and 
meekness is a huge contradiction to pride and re¬ 
venge ; and the wandering of our eyes, and the 
greatness of our fancy, and our imaginative opin¬ 
ions are to be lessened, that we mav serve God. 
There is no other way of serving God; we have 


Sect. 5.] 


IN TIME OF SICKNESS. 


211 


nothing else to present unto him; we do not else 
give him any thing or part of ourselves, but'when 
we for his sake part with what we naturally desire; 
and difficulty is essential to virtue ; and without 
choice there can be no reward; and in the satisfac- 
. tion of our natural desires there is no election, we 
run to them as beasts to the river or the crib. If 
therefore any man shall teach or practise such re¬ 
ligion that satisfies all our natural desires in the 


days of desire and passion, of lust and appetites, and 
only turns to God when his appetites are gone and 
his desires cease, this man hath overthrown the 
very being of virtues, and the essential constitution 
of religion. Eeligion is no religion, and virtue is 
no act of choice, and reward comes by chance and 
without condition, if we only are religious when we 
cannot choose, if we part with our money when we 
cannot keep it, with our lust when we cannot act 
it, with our desires when they have left us. Death 
is a certain mortijier; but that mortification is 
deadly, not useful to the pur- Cogimur a suetis [gratis]ani- 
poses of a spiritual life. When 
we are compelled to depart from “S. r „„ lItlll , n .j 
our evil customs, and leave to EL15 °* 
live, that we may begin to live, then we die to die; 
that life is the prologue to death, and thenceforth 
we die eternally. 

St. Cyril speaks of certain people that chose to 
worship the sun because he was 
a day-god; for, believing that 


Cyr. Hier. Cat. iv. 6. 




212 


PRACTICE OF REPENTANCE [Cn. IV. 


he was quenched every night in the sea, or that lie 
had no influence upon them that light up candles 
and lived by the light of fire, they were confident 
they might be atheists all night, and live as they 
list. Men who divide their little portion of time 
between religion and pleasures, between God and * 
God’s enemy, think that God is to rule but in his 
certain period of time, and that our life is the stage 
for passion and folly, and the day of death for the 
work of our life. But as to God both the day and 
night are alike , so are the first and last of our days : 
all are his due, and he will account severely with 
us for the follies of the first, and the evil of the last. 

The evils and the pains are 

Gnossius hacc, Itliadamantlius A 

habet durissima regna, great which are reserved for 

Castigatque, auditque dolos, 0 

subigitque fateri those who defer their restitu- 

Qua; quis apud superos, furto . 

laatatus inani, tion to Gods favor till their 

Distulit in seram commissa _ . 4 i 1 n . 

piacuia mortem. death. And therefore Antis- 

Virg. jEn. vi. 566. , . , r , . 7 

thenes said well, it is not the 
happy death , but the happy life , that makes man happy. 

It is in piety as in fame and reputation: he secures 
a good name but loosely that trusts his fame and 

-Cineri gloria sera venit. Celebllty Only to llis ashes j and 

Mart. Epig. 1.2G. 8 . ^ j s more a civility than the 

base of a firm reputation, that men speak honor of 
their departed relatives. But if their life be virtu¬ 
ous, it forces honor from con- 

Tu mihi, quod rarum est,vivo 

sublime dcdisti tempt, and snatches it from the 

Nomen, ab exsequiis quod 

dare fama soict. hand of envy, and it shines 

Ovid. Ti'iat. iv. 10.121. . _ 

through the crevices of detrac- 


Sect. 6.] 


IN TIME OF SICKNESS. 


213 


tion ; and as it anointed the head of the living, so 
it embalms the body of the dead. From these 
premises it follows, that when we discourse of a 
sick man’s repentance , it is intended to be, not a 
beginning, but the prosecution and consummation 
of the covenant of repentance, which Christ stipu¬ 
lated with us in baptism, and which we needed all 
our life, and which we began long before this last 
arrest, and in which we are now to make further 
progress, that we may arrive to that integrity and 
fulness of duty, that our sins may 

7 7 7 7 7 7 . Acts 3 . 19 . 

be blotted out ivhen the times of 

refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. 

Sect. VI. — Rules for the Practice of Repentance 

in Sickness. 

1. T ET the sick man consider at what gate his 
B J sickness entered ; and if he can discover 
the particular, let him instantly, passionately, and 
with great contrition dash the crime in pieces, lest 
he descend into his grave in the midst of a sin, and 
thence remove into an ocean of eternal sorrow. 
But if he only suffers the common fate of man, and 
knows not the particular inlet, he is to be governed 
by the following measures. 

2. Inquire into the repentance of thy former life 
particularly : whether it were of a great and perfect 
grief, and productive of fixed resolutions of holy 
living, and• reductive of these to act; how many 


214 


PRACTICE OF REPENTANCE [Ch. IV. 


days and nights we have spent in sorrow or care, 
in habitual and actual pursuances of virtue ; what 
instrument we have chosen and used for the eradi¬ 
cation of sin ; how we have judged ourselves, and 
how punished; and in some, whether we have by 
the grace of repentance changed our life from crimi¬ 
nal to virtuous, from one habit to another, and 
whether we have paid for the pleasure of our sin 
by smart or sorrow, by the effusion of alms, or per- 
noctations of abodes in prayers, so as the spirit hath 
been served in our repentance as earnestly and as 
greatly as our appetites have been provided for in 
the days of our shame and folly. 

3. Supply the imperfections of thy repentance by 
a general or universal sorrow for the sins not only 
since the last communion or absolution, but of thy 
whole life; for all sins known and unknown, re¬ 
pented and unrepented, of ignorance or infirmity, 
which thou knowest, or which others have accused 
thee of; thy clamorous and thy whispering sins, the 
sins of scandal and the sins of a secret conscience, 
of the flesh and of the spirit. For it would be but 
a sad arrest to thy soul wandering in strange and 
unusual regions, to see a scroll of uncancelled sins 
represented and charged upon thee for want of 
care and notices, and that tliy repentance shall be¬ 
come invalid because of its imperfections. 

4. To this purpose it is usually advised by spirit¬ 
ual persons, that the sick man make an universal 
confession , or a renovation and repetition of all the 


Sect. 6.] 


m TIME OF SICKNESS. 


215 


particular confessions and accusations of his whole 
life ; that now at the foot of his account he may 
represent the sum total to God and his conscience, 
and make provisions for their remedy and pardon 
according to his present possibilities. 

5. Now is the time to make reflex acts of repent¬ 
ance ; that as by a general repentance we supply 
the want of the just extension of parts, so by this 
we may supply the proper measures of the intension 
of degrees. In our health we can consider concern¬ 
ing our own acts whether they be real or hypo¬ 
critical, essential or imaginary, sincere or upon 
interest, integral or imperfect, commensurate or 
defective. And although it is a good caution of 
securities, after all our care and diligence still to 
suspect ourselves and our own deceptions, and for 
ever to beg of God pardon and acceptance in the 
union of Christ’s passion and intercession: yet in 
proper speaking reflex acts of repentance, being a 
suppletory after the imperfection of the direct , are 
then most lit to be used when we cannot proceed in 
and prosecute the direct actions. To repent be¬ 
cause we cannot repent, and to grieve because we 
cannot grieve, was a device invented to serve the 
turn of the mother of Peter Gratian: but it was 
used by her, and so advised to be, in her sickness, 
and last actions of repentance. For in our perfect 
health and understanding if we do not understand 
our first act, we cannot discern our second; and if 
we be not sorry for our sins, we cannot be sorry for 


21G 


PRACTICE OF REPENTANCE [Cii. IV. 


want of sorrows: it is a contradiction to ssty we 
can ; because want of sorrow to which we are 
obliged is certainly a great sin ; and if we can 
grieve for that, then also for the rest; if not for all, 
then not for this. But in the days of weakness 
the case is otherwise: for then our actions are 
imperfect, our discourse weak, our internal actions 
not discernible, our fears great, our work to be 
abbreviated, and our defects to be supplied by 
spiritual arts; and therefore it is proper and pro¬ 
portionate to our state and to our necessity, to beg 
of God pardon for the imperfections of our repent¬ 
ance, acceptance of our weaker sorrows, supplies 
out of the treasures of grace and mercy. And thus 
repenting of the evil and unhandsome adherences of 
our repentance, in the whole integrity of the duty 
it will become a repentance not to be repented of. 

6. Now is the time beyond which the sick man 

Ou pmdre, ou rente, ou must at no hand defer to make 
lee peines d’enfer nttendre. restitution of all his Unjust pOS- 

sessions, or other men’s rights, and satisfactions for 
all injuries and violences, according to his obligation 
and possibilities. For although many circumstances 
might impede the acting it in our lifetime, and it 
was permitted to be deferred in many cases, because 
by it justice was not hindered, and oftentimes piety 
and equity were provided for. yet because this is 
the last scene of our life, he that does not act it so 
far as he can, or put it into certain conditions and 
order of effecting, can never do it again ; and there- 


Sect. 6.] 


IN TIME OF SICKNESS. 


217 


fore then to defer it is to omit it, and leaves the 
repentance defective in an integral and constituent 
part. 

7. Let the sick man be diligent and watchful 
that the principle of his repentance be contrition, or 
sorrow for sins, commenced upon the love of God. 
For although sorrow for sins upon any motive may 
lead us to God by many intermedial passages, and 
is the threshold of returning sinners, yet is it not 
good nor effective upon our death-bed ; because re¬ 
pentance is not then to begin, but must then be 
finished and completed; and it is to be a supply 
and reparation of all the imperfections of that duty, 
and therefore it must by that time be arrived to 
contrition, that is, it must have grown from fear to 
love, from the passions of a servant to the affec¬ 
tions of a son. The reason of which (besides the 
precedent, is this, because when our repentance is 
in this state, it supposes the man also in a state of 
grace, a well-grown Christian. For to hate sin 
out of the love of God is not the felicity of a new 
convert, or an infant grace (or if it be, that love also 
is in its infancy) ; but it supposes a good progress, 
and the man habitually virtuous, and tending to per¬ 
fection : and therefore contrition, or repentance so 
qualified, is useful to great degrees of pardon, be¬ 
cause the man is a gracious person, and that virtue 
is of good degree, and consequently a fit employ¬ 
ment for him that shall work no more, but is to 
appear before his Judge, to receive the hire of his 
10 






218 


PRACTICE OF REPENTANCE [Ch. IV. 


day. And if his repentance be contrition even 
before this state of sickness, let it be increased by 
spiritual arts, and the proper exercises of charity. 


Means of exciting Contrition , or Repentance of Sins , 


proceeding from the Love of God. 

O which purpose the sick man may consider, 



JL and is to be reminded, if he does not, that 
there are in God all the motives and causes of 
amability in the world: That God is so infinitely 
good, that there are some of the greatest and most 
excellent spirits of heaven, whose work, and whose 
felicity, and whose perfections, and whose nature it 
is to flame and burn in the brightest and most excel¬ 
lent love: That to love God is the greatest glorv 
of heaven: That in him there are such excellencies, 
that the smallest rays of them communicated to our 
weaker understandings, are yet sufficient to cause 
ravishments, and transportations, and satisfactions, 
and joys unspeakable and full of glory: That all the 
wise Christians of the world know and feel such 
causes to love God, that they all profess themselves 
ready to die for the love of God: and the Apostles 
and millions of the martyrs did die for him: And 
although it be harder to live in his love than to die 
for it, yet all the good people that ever gave their 
names to Christ did for his love endure the crucify¬ 
ing their lusts, the mortification of their appetites, 
the contradictions and death of their most passion- 


Sect. G.] 


IN TIME OF SICKNESS. 


219 


ate natural desires: That kings and queens have 
quitted their diadems, and many married saints 
have turned their mutual vows into the love of 
Jesus, and married him only, keeping a virgin chas¬ 
tity in a married life, that they may more tenderly 
express their love to God: That all the good we 
have derives from God’s love to us, and all the 
good we can hope for is the effect of his love, and 
can descend only upon them that love him: That 
by his love it is that we receive the holy Jesus, and 
by his love we receive the Holy Spirit, and by his 
love we feel peace and joy within our spirits, and 
by his love we receive the mysterious sacrament. 
And what can be greater than that from the good¬ 
ness and love of God we receive Jesus Christ, and 
the Holy Ghost, and adoption, and the inheritance 
of sons, and to be co-heirs with Jesus, and to have 
pardon of our sins, and a divine nature, and restrain¬ 
ing grace, and the grace of sanctification, and rest 
and peace within us, and a certain expectation of 
glory ? Who can choose but love him, who, when 
we had provoked him exceedingly, sent his Son to 
die for us, that we might live with him; who does 
• so desire to pardon us and save us, that he hath 
appointed his holy Son continually to intercede for 
us? That his love is so great, that he offers us 
great kindness and entreats us to be happy, and 
makes many decrees in heaven concerning the in¬ 
terest of our soul, and the very provision and sup¬ 
port of our persons: That he sends an angel to 


220 


PRACTICE OF REPENTANCE [Ch. IV. 


attend upon every of his servants, and to be their 
guard and their guide in all their dangers and hos¬ 
tilities : That for our sakes he restrains the Devil, 
and puts his mightiness in fetters and restraints, 
and chastises his malice with decrees of grace and 
safety: That he it is that makes all the creatures 
serve us, and takes care of our sleeps, and preserves 
all plants and elements, all minerals and vegetables, 
all beasts and birds, all fishes and insects, for food 
to us, and for ornament, for physic and instruction, 
for variety and wonder, for delight and for religion : 
That as God is all good in himself, and all good to 
us, so sin is directly contrary to God, to reason, to 
religion, to safety and pleasure and felicity: That 
it is a great dishonor to a man’s spirit to have been 
made a fool by a weak temptation and an empty 
lust; and to have rejected God, who is so rich, so 
wise, so good, and so excellent, so delicious and so 
profitable to us : That all the repentance in the 
world of excellent men does end in contrition, or a 
sorrow for sins proceeding from the love of God; 
because they that are in the state of grace do not 
fear hell violently, and so long as they remain in 
God’s favor, although they suffer the infirmities of 
men, yet they are God’s portion ; and therefore all 
the repentance of just and holy men, which is cer¬ 
tainly the best, is a repentance not for lower ends, 
but because they are the friends of God, and they 
are full of indignation that they have done an act 
against the honor of their patron, and their dearest 


Sect. 6.] 


. JN TIME OF SICKNESS. 


221 


Lord and Father: That it is a huge imperfection and 
a state of weakness to need to be moved witli fear 
or temporal respects, and they that are so as yet 
are either immerged in the affections of the world, 
or of themselves; and those men that bear such a 
character are not yet esteemed laudable persons, or 
men of good natures, or the sons of virtue: That 
no repentance can be lasting that relies upon any¬ 
thing but the love of God ; for temporal motives 
may cease, and contrary contingencies may arise, 
and fear of hell may be expelled by natural or 
acquired hardnesses, and is always the least when 
we have most need of it, and most cause for it; for 
the more habitual our sins are, the more cauterized 
our conscience is, the less is the fear of hell, and 
yet our danger is much the greater : That although 
fear of hell or other temporal motives may be the 
first inlet to repentance, yet repentance in that con¬ 
stitution and under those circumstances cannot ob¬ 
tain pardon, because there is in that no union with 
God, no adhesion to Christ, no endearment of pas¬ 
sion or of spirit, no similitude or conformity to the 
great instrument of our peace, our glorious Medi¬ 
ator : for as yet a man is turned from his sin, but 
not converted to God; the first and last of our 
returns to God being love, and nothing but love: 
for obedience is the first part of love, and fruition 
is the last; and because he that does not love God 
cannot obey him, therefore he that does not love 
him cannot enjoy him. 


222 


PRACTICE OF REPENTANCE [Ch. IV. 


Now that this may be reduced to practice, the 
sick man may be advertised that in the actions of 
repentance lie separate low, temporal, sensual and 
self-ends from his thoughts, and so do his repent¬ 
ance that he may still reflect honor upon God, that 
he confess his justice in punishing, that he acknowl¬ 
edge himself to have deserved the worst of evils, 
that he heartily believe and profess that if he perish 
finally, yet that God ought to be glorified by that 
sad event, and that he hath truly merited so intol¬ 
erable a calamity : that he also be put to make 
acts of election and preference, professing that he 
would willingly endure all temporal evils rather 
than be in the disfavor of God or in the state of 
sin ; for by this last instance he will be quitted from 
the suspicion of leaving sin for temporal respects, 
because he, by an act of imagination or feigned pres¬ 
ence of the object to him, entertains the temporal 
evil that he may leave the sin; and therefore, un¬ 
less he be a hypocrite, does not leave the sin to be 
quit of the temporal evil. And as for the other 
motive of leaving sin out of the fear of hell, be¬ 
cause that is an evangelical motive conveyed to us 
by the Spirit of God, and is immediate to the love 
of God ; if the schoolmen had pleased, they might 
have reckoned it as the handmaid, and of the retinue 
of contrition: but the more the considerations are- 
sublimed above this, of the greater effect and the 
more immediate to pardon will be the repentance. 

8. Let the sick persons do frequent actions of re - 


Sect. 6.] 


IN TIME OF SICKNESS. 


223 


pentance by ivay of prayer for all those sins which are 
spiritual , and in which no restitution or satisfaction 
material can be made , and whose contrary acts can¬ 
not m kind be exercised. For penitential prayers 
in some eases are the only instances of repentance 
that can be. An envious man, if he gives God 
hearty thanks for the advancement of his brother, 
hath done an act of mortification of his envy, as 
directly as corporal austerities are an act of chastity, 
and an enemy to uncleanness ; and if I have se¬ 
duced a person that is dead or absent, if I cannot 
restore him to sober counsels by my discourse and 
undeceiving him, 1 can only repent of that by way 
of prayer; and intemperance is no way to be re¬ 
scinded or punished by a dying man , but by hearty 
prayers. Prayers are a great help in all cases ; in 
some they are proper acts of virtue, and direct 
enemies to sin ; but although alone and in long con¬ 
tinuance they alone can cure some one or some 
few little habits, yet they can never alone change 
the state of the man, and therefore are intended to 
be a suppletory to the imperfections of other acts ; 
and by that reason are the proper and most per¬ 
tinent employment of a clinic or death-bed penitent. 

9. In those sins whose proper cure is mortifica¬ 
tion corporal , the sick man is to supply that part 
of his repentance by a patient submission to the 
rod of sickness ; for sickness does the work of pen¬ 
ances, or sharp afflictions and dry diet, perfectly 
well; to which if we also put our wills, and make 





224 


PRACTICE OF REPENTANCE [Cii. IV. 


it our act by an after-election, by confessing the 
justice of God, by bearing it sweetly, by begging 
it may be medicinal, there is nothing wanting to 

Quid debeatlaesi facere, ubi the perfection of this part but 
reiadpocnam confugiunt? that Q od confirm OU1’ patience, 

and hear our prayers. When the guilty man runs 
to punishment, the injured person is prevented, and 
hath no whither to go but to forgiveness. 

10. I have learned but of one suppletory more 
for the perfection and proper exercise of a sick 
man’s repentance ; but it is such a one as will go a 
great way in the abolition of our past sins, and mak¬ 
ing our peace with God, even after a less severe 
life ; and that is, that the sick man do some heroical 
actions in the matter of charity, or religion, of jus¬ 
tice, or severity. There is a story of an infamous 
thief, who having begged his pardon of the Emperor 
Mauritius, was yet put into the hospital of St. Samp¬ 
son, where he so plentifully bewailed his sins in 
the last agonies of his death, that the physician 
who attended found him unexpectedly dead, and 
over his face a handkerchief bathed in tears ; and 
soon after somebody or other pretended a revelation 
of this man’s beatitude. It was a rare grief that 
was noted in this man which begot in that age a 
confidence of his being saved; and that confidence 
(as things then went) was quickly called a revela¬ 
tion. But it was a stranger severity which is 
related by Thomas Cantipratanus concerning a 
young gentleman condemned for robbery and vio- 


Sect. 6.] IN TIME OF SICKNESS. 225 

lence, who had so deep a sense of - his sin, that ho 
was not content with a single death, but begged to 
be tormented and cut in pieces joint by joint, with 
intermedial senses, that he might by such a smart 
signify a greater sorrow. Some have given great 
estates to the poor and to religion ; some have built 
colleges for holy persons ; many have suffered mar¬ 
tyrdom : and though those that died under the con¬ 
duct of the Maccabees in defence of their country 
and religion, had pendants on their breasts conse¬ 
crated to the idols of the Jamnenses, yet that they 
gave their lives in such a cause with so great a duty 
(the biggest things they could do or give), it was 
esteemed to prevail hugely towards the pardon and 
acceptation of their persons. An heroic action of 
virtue is a huge compendium of religion: for if it be 
attained to by the usual measures and progress of a 
Christian, from inclination to act, from act to habit, 
from habit to abode, from abode to reigning, from 
reigning to perfect possession, from possession to 
extraordinary emanations, that is, to heroic actions, 
then it must needs do the work of man, by being 
so great towards the work of God. But if a man 
comes thither per saltum , or on a sudden (which is 
seldom seen), then it supposes the man always well 
inclined, but abused by accident or hope, by con¬ 
fidence or ignorance; then it supposes the man for 
the present in a great fear of evil, and a passionate 
desire of pardon ; it supposes his apprehensions 
great, and his time little ; and what the event of 
10 * 


o 



226 


PRACTICE OF REPENTANCE [Ch. IV. 


that will be, no man can tell. But it is certain 
that to some purposes God will account for our re¬ 
ligion on our death-bed, not by the measure of our 

time, but the eminency of affec- 

Vera ad Detim conversio ^ 

in uitimis positorum inente tion (as said Celestine the First); 

potius est testimanda quarn ^ < ' 

tempore. — Ep. ii. 2. (Vera that is, supposing the man in the 

conversio) scil. ab infirleli- . _ . 

tate ad fidem Christi per bap- state of grace, Or 111 tile l'CVCaled 

tismum. . 

possibility ot salvation, then an 
heroical act hath the reward of a longer series of 
good actions, in an even and ordinary course of 
virtue. 

11. In what can remain for the perfecting a sick 
man’s repentance, he is to be helped by the minis¬ 
tries of a spiritual guide. 


Sect. YII. — Acts of Repentance by way of Prayer 
and Ejaculation , to be used especially by old Men 
in their Aye , and by all Men in their Sickness. 

Lam. iii. 40. T ET us search and try our ways , 
B J and turn again to the Lord. 41. 
Let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto God in 
the heavens. 42. We have transgressed and rebelled , 
and thou hast not pardoned. 43. Thou hast covered 
with anger , and persecuted us ; thou hast slain , thou 
hast not pitied. 44. 0 cover not thyself with a cloud ; 
but let our prayer pass through. 

Job vii. 20. I have sinned ; what shall I do unto 
thee , 0 thou Preserver of men ? why hast thou set me 
as a mark against thee,so that lam a burden to my- 


Sect. 7.] 


IN TIME OF SICKNESS. 


227 


self ? 21. And why dost thou not pardon my trans¬ 

gression, and tedee away mine iniquity ? for now 
shall 1 sleep in the dust, and thou shalt seek me in 
the morning, hut I shall not he. 

Lam. i. 18. The Lord is righteous, for I have re¬ 
belled against his commandments. Hear, I pray, all 
ye people, behold my sorrow, 20. Behold, 0 Lord, 
I am in distress, my bowels are troubled, my heart is 
turned within me ; for I have grievously rebelled. 

Lam. v. 19. Thou, 0 L^ord, remainest for ever; 
thy throne from generation to generation. 20. Where¬ 
fore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so 
long time ? 21. Turn thou us unto thee, 0 Lord, 

and so shall we be turned; renew our days as of old. 
22, O reject me not utterly, and be not exceeding 
wroth against thy servant. 

Psal. xxv. 7. O remember not the sins of my youth, 
nor my transgressions, but according to thy mercies 
remember thou me, for thy goodness' sake, 0 Lord. 
Psal. cix. 21. Do thou for me, 0 God the Lord, for 
thy name’s sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver 
thou me. 22. For L am poor and needy, and my 
heart is wounded within me. 23. / am gone like 
the shadow that declineth : I am tossed up and down 
as the locust. 

Luke xix. 8. Then Zaccheus stood forth and said, 
Behold, Lord, half of my goods Lgive to the poor ; 
and if 1 have wronged any man, L restore him four¬ 
fold. 

Psal. cxliii. 1. Hear my prayer, 0 Lord, and con- 


228 


PRACTICE OF REPENTANCE [Ch. IV. 


sider my desire. Psal. cxli. 2. Let my 'prayer be set 
forth in thy sight as the incense, and let the lifting 
up of my hands be an evening sacrifice. 

Psal. cxliii. 2. And enter 7iot into judgment with 
thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be 
justified. 10. Teach me to do the thing that pleaseth 
thee, for thou art my God: let thy loving Spirit 
lead me forth into the land of righteousness. 

Psalm ci. 1. I will [speak] of mercy and judg¬ 
ment : unto thee, 0 Lord, will I [make my prayer]. 
2. I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. 0 
when wilt thou come unto me ? I will walk in my 
house with a perfect heart. 3. I will set no wick ed 
thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that 
turn aside, it shall not cleave to me. 

Psalm li. 9. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot 
out ‘all mine iniquities. 10. Create in me a clean 
heart, 0 God, and renew a right spirit within me. 
14. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, [from 
malice, envy, the follies of lust, and violences of 
passion, &c.] thou God of my salvation; and my 
tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. 

17. The sacrifice of God is a broken heart: a 
broken and a contrite heart, 0 God, thou ivilt not 
despise. 

Lord, I have done amiss ; I have been deceived : 
let so great a wrong as this be removed, and let it 
be so no more. 





Sect. 7.] 


IN TIME OF SICKNESS. 


229 


The Prayer for the Grace and Perfection of Re¬ 
pentance. 


I. 

Z' ^ ALMIGHTY God, thou art the great Judge 
of all the world, the Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, the Father of 
men and angels ; thou lovest not that a sinner 
should perish, but delightest in our conversion and 
salvation, and hast in our Lord Jesus Christ estab¬ 
lished the covenant of repentance, and promised 
pardon to all them that confess their sins and for¬ 
sake them: O my God, be thou pleased to work in 
me what thou hast commanded should be in me. 
Lord, I am a dry tree, who neither have brought 
forth fruit unto thee and unto holiness, nor have 
wept out salutary tears, the instrument of life and 
restitution, but have behaved myself like an uncon¬ 
cerned person in the ruins and breaches of my soul. 
But, 0 God , thou art my God , 
early will I seek thee ; my soul 
thirsteth for thee in a barren and thirsty land , where 
no water is. Lord, give me the grace of tears and 
pungent sorrow ; let my heart be as a land of rivers 
of waters, and my head a fountain of tears ; turn 
my sin into repentance, and let my repentance pro¬ 
ceed to pardon and refreshment. 


Psalm 63.1. 


230 


PRACTICE OF REPENTANCE |Ch. iy. 


II. 


S UPPORT me with thy graces, strengthen me 
with thy Spirit, soften my heart with the fire 
of thy love and the dew of heaven, with peniten¬ 
tial showers ; make my care prudent, and the re¬ 
maining portions of my days like the perpetual 
watches of the night, full of caution and observance, 
strong and resolute, patient and severe. I remem¬ 
ber, 0 Lord, that I did sin with greediness and pas¬ 
sion, with great desires and an unbated choice. O 
let me be as great in my repentance as ever I have 
been in my calamity and shame : let my hatred of 
sin be great as my love to thee, and both as near to 
infinite as my proportion can receive. 


III. 


O L0PD, I renounce all affection to sin, and 
would not buy my health nor redeem my 
life with doing anything against the laws of my 
God, but would rather die than offend thee. O 
dearest Saviour, have pity upon thy servant; let 
me by thy sentence be doomed to perpetual pen¬ 
ance during the abode of this life; let every sigh 
be the expression of a repentance, and every groan 
an accent of spiritual life, and every stroke of my 
disease a punishment of my sin, and an instrument 
of pardon: that at my return to the land of inno¬ 
cence and pleasure I may eat of the votive sacri- 




Sect. 7.] 


IN TIME OF SICKNESS. 


231 


lice of the supper of the Lamb, that icas from the 
beginning of the world slain for the sins of every 
sorrowful and returning sinner. O grant me sorrow 
here and joy hereafter, throu gh Jesus^Chnst^who 
is our hope, the resurrection of the dead, the justi- 
fier of a sinner, and the glory of all faithful souls. 
Amen. 


A Prayer for Pardon of Sins, to be said frequently 
in time of Sickness, and in all the 'portions of Old 
Age. 


I. 


V ETERNAL and most gracious Father, I 
humbly throw myself down at the foot of thy 
mercy-seat, upon the confidence of thy essential 
mercy, and thy commandment that we should come 
boldly to the throne of grace, that we may find mercy 
in time of need. O my God, hear the prayers and 
cries of a sinner, who calls earnestly for mercy. 
Lord, my needs are greater than all the degrees of 
my desire can be ; unless thou hast pity upon me, 
I perish infinitely and intolerably; and then there 
will be one voice fewer in the choir of singers who 
shall recite thy praises to eternal ages. But, 0 
Lord, in mercy deliver my soul. 

O save me for thy mercies' sake. 

For in that second death there is no remembrance 
of thee ; in the grave who shall give thee thanks ? 


Psal. C. 4, 5. 


232 


PRACTICE OF REPENTANCE [On. IV. 


II. 

O JUST and dear God, my sins are innumer¬ 
able ; they are upon my soul in multitudes ; 
they are a burden too heavy for me to bear ; they 
already bring sorrow and sickness, shame and dis¬ 
pleasure, guilt and a decaying spirit, a sense of thy 
present displeasure, and fear of worse, of infinitely 
worse. But it is to thee so essential, so delightful, 
so usual, so desired by thee, to show mercy, that 
although my sin be very great, and my fear pro¬ 
portionable, yet thy mercy is infinitely greater than 
all the world, and my hope and my comfort rise up 
in proportions towards it, that I trust the devils 
shall never be able to reprove it, nor my own weak¬ 
ness discompose it. Lord, thou hast sent thy Son 
to die for the pardon of my sins ; thou hast given 
me thy Holy Spirit as a seal of adoption to consign 
the article of remission of sins ; thou hast, for all 
my sins, still continued to invite me to conditions 
of life by thy ministers the prophets ; and thou 
hast with variety of holy acts softened my spirit, 
and possessed my fancy, and instructed my under¬ 
standing, and bended and inclined my will, and 
directed or overruled my passions in order to re¬ 
pentance and pardon ; and why should not thy ser¬ 
vant beg passionately, and humbly hope for the 
effects of all these thy strange and miraculous acts 
of loving-kindness ? Lord, I deserve it not, but 3 
hope thou wilt pardon all my sins ; and I beg it of 


Sect. 7.] 


IiV TIME OF SICKNESS. 


233 


thee for Jesus Christ his sake, whom thou hast 
made the great endearment of thy promises, and 
the foundation of our hopes, and the mighty in¬ 
strument whereby we can obtain of thee whatsoever 
we need and can receive. 


III. 


O MY God, how shall thy servant be disposed 
to receive such a favor, which is so great 
that the ever-blessed Jesus did die to purchase it 
for us; so great, that the fallen angels never could 
hope, and never shall obtain it ? i Lord, Ido from my 
soul forgive all that have sinned against me : O for¬ 
give me my sins as I forgive them that have sinned 
against me.J Lord, I confess my sins unto tliee daily , 
by the accusations and secret acts of conscience ; 
and if we confess our sius, thou hast called it a 
part of justice to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse 
us from all unrighteousness, j Lord, I put my trust 
in thee ; and thou art ever gracious to them that 
put their trust in thee. I call upon my God for 
mercy; and thou art always more ready to hear 
than we to pray. But all that I can do, and all 
that I am, and all that I know of myself, is nothing 
but sin, and infirmity, and misery ; therefore I go 
forth of myself, and throw myself wholly into the 
arms of thy mercy through Jesus Christ, and beg 
of thee for his death and passion’s sake, by his 
resurrection and ascension, by all the parts of our 


234 


REPENTANCE IN SICKNESS - [Cii. IV. 


redemption, and thy infinite mercy, in which thou 
pleasest thyself above all the works of the creation, 
to be pitiful and compassionate to thy servant in 
the abolition of all my sins : so shall I praise tliy 
glories with a tongue not defiled with evil language, 
and a heart purged by thy grace, quitted by thy 
mercy, and absolved by thy sentence, from gen¬ 
eration to generation. 



An Act of holy Resolution of Amendment of Life 
in case of Recovery. 


O MOST just and most merciful Lord God, 
who hast sent evil diseases, sorrow and fear, 
trouble and uneasiness, briers and thorns into the 
world, and planted them in our houses, and round 
about our dwellings, to keep sin from our souls, or 
to drive it thence ; I humbly beg of thee that this 
my sickness may serve the ends of the spirit, and 
be a messenger of spiritual life, an instrument of 
reducing me to more religious and sober courses. 
I know, O Lord, that I am unready and unprepared 
in my accounts, having thrown away great portions 
of my time in vanity, and set myself hugely back 
in the accounts of eternity ; and I had need live 
my life over again, and live it better ; but thy 
counsels are in the great deep, and thy footsteps in 
the water ; and T know not what thou wilt determine 
of me. VJf I die, I throw myself into the arms of 
the holy Jesus, whom I love above all things: and 


Sect. 8.] ANALYSIS OF THE DECALOGUE. 235 


if I perish, I know I have deserved it; but thou 
wilt not reject him that loves thee, j But if I 
recover, I will live by thy grace and help to do the 
work of God, and passionately pursue my interest 
of heaven, and serve thee in the labor of love, with 
the charities of a holy zeal, and the diligence of a 
firm and humble obedience. Lord, I will dwell in 
thy temple, and in thy service ; religion shall be my 
employment, and alms shall be my recreation, and 
patience shall be my rest, and to do thy will shall be 
my meat and drink, and to live shall he Christ, and 
then to die shall he gain. 

0 spare me a little , that I may recover riiy strength 
before I go hence and he no more seen. Thy will he 
done on earth as it is in heaven. i 

Sect. VIII.— An Analysis or Resolution of the 
Decalogue , and the special Precepts of the Gos¬ 
pel, describing the Duties enjoined and the Sins 
forbidden, respectively ; for the assistance of Sick 
Men in making their Confessions to God and his 
Ministers, and the rendering their Repentance 
more particular and perfect. 

I. Comm. Thou shalt have none other Gods hut me. 

D UTIES commanded are, 1 . To love God 
above all things. 2. To obey him and fear 
him. 3. To worship him with prayers, vows, 
thanksgivings, presenting to him our souls and 


236 


ANALYSIS OF 


[Ch. IV. 


bodies, and all sacli actions and expressions which 
the consent of nations, or the laws or customs of 
the place where we live have appropriated to God. 
4. To design all to God’s glory. 5. To inquire 
after his will. 6. To believe all his word. 7. To 
submit to his providence. 8. To proceed toward 
all our lawful ends by such means as himself hath 
appointed. 9. To speak and think honorably of 
God, and recite his praises, and confess his attri¬ 
butes and perfections. 

They sin against this commandment , 1. Who love 
themselves or any of the creatures inordinately and 
intemperately. 2. They that despise of neglect 
any of the divine precepts. 3. They that pray to 
unknown or false gods. 4. They that disbelieve 
or deny there is a God. 5. They that make 
vows to creatures : 6. Or say prayers to the honor 
of men or women, or angels ; as Paternosters to 
the honor of the Virgin Mary, or St. Peter, which 
is a taking a part of that honor which is due to 
God, and giving it to the creature : it is religion 
paid to men and women out of God’s proper por¬ 
tion, out of prayers directed to God immediately; 
and it is an act contrary to that religion which 
makes God the last end of all things: for this, 
through our addresses to God, passes something to 
the creatures, as if they stood beyond him ; for by 
the intermedial worship paid to God they ulti¬ 
mately do honor to the man, or angel. 7. They 
that make consumptive oblations to the creatures, 


Sect. 8.] 


THE DECALOGUE. 


237 


as the Collyridians, who offered cakes, and those 
that burnt incense or candles to the Virgin Mary. 
8. They that give themselves to the Devil, or 
make contracts with him, and use fantastic con¬ 
versation with him. 9. They that consult witches 
and fortune-tellers. 10. They that rely upon 
dreams and superstitious observances. 11. That use 
charms, spells, superstitious words and characters, 
verses of Psalms, the consecrated elements, to cure 
diseases, to be shot-free, to recover stolen goods, 
or inquire into secrets. 12. That are wilfully igno¬ 
rant of the laws of God, or love to be deceived in 
their persuasions, that they may sin with confidence. 
13. They that neglect to pray to God. 14. They 
that arrogate to themselves the glory of any action 
of power, and do not give the glory to God, as 
Herod. 15. They that doubt of or disbelieve any 
article of the Creed, or any proposition of Scripture, 
or put false glosses to serve secular or vicious ends, 
against, their conscience, or with violence any way 
done to their reason. 16. They that violently or 
passionately pursue any temporal end with an 
eagerness greater than the thing is in prudent 
account 17. They that make religion to serve ill 
ends, or do good to evil purpose, or evil to good 
purposes. 18. They that accuse God of injustice 
and unmercifulness, remissness or cruelty ; such as 
are the presumptuous, and the desperate. 19. All 
hypocrites and pretenders to religion, walking in 
forms and shadows, but denying the power of god- 


238 


ANALYSIS OF 


[Ch. IV. 


liness. 20. All impatient persons, all tliat repine 
or murmur against the prosperities of the wicked, 
or the calamities of the godly, or their own afflic¬ 
tions. 21. All that blaspheme God, or speak dis¬ 
honorable things of so sacred a Majesty. 22. They 
that tempt God, or rely upon his protection against 
his rules, and without his promise, and besides 
reason, entering into danger from which without 
a miracle they cannot be rescued. 23. They that 
are bold in the midst of judgment, and fearless in 
the midst of the divine vengeance, and the accents 
of his anger. 

II. Comm. Thou shall not make to thyself any graven 
image , nor worship it. 

IIE moral duties of this commandment are , 



X 1. To worship God with all bodily worship 
and external forms of address, according to the cus¬ 
tom of the church we live in. 2. To believe God 

% 

to be a spiritual and pure substance, without any 
visible form or shape. 3. To worship God in ways 
of his own appointing, or by his proportions, or 
measures of nature and right reason, or public and 
and holy customs. 

They sin against this commandment , 1. That 
make any image or pictures of the Godhead, or 
fancy any likeness to him. 2. They that use 
images in their religion, designing or addressing any 
religious worship to them : for if this thing could 


Sect. 8.] 


THE DECALOGUE . 


230 


be naturally tolerable , yet it is too near an intolerable 
for a jealous God to suffer. 3. They that deny to 
worship God with lowly reverence of their bodies, 
according as the church expresses her reverence to 
God externally. 4. They that invent or practise 
superstitious worshippings, invented by man against 
God’s word, pr without reason, or besides tlie pub¬ 
lic customs or forms of worshipping, either foolishly 
or ridiculously, without the purpose of order, de¬ 
cency, proportion to a wise or religious end, in pros¬ 
ecution of some virtue or duty. 

III. Comm. Thou shalt not take God's name in vain. 

T HE duties of this commandment are , 1. To 
honor and revere the most holy name of 
God. 2. To invocate his name directly, or by con¬ 
sequence, in all solemn and permitted adjurations, 
or public oaths. 3. To use all things and persons 
upon whom his name is called, or any ways im¬ 
printed, with a regardful and. separate manner of 
usage, different from common, and far from con¬ 
tempt and scorn. 4. To swear in truth and judg¬ 
ment. 

They sin against this commandment , 1 . Who 
swear vainly and customarily, without just cause, 
without competent authority. 2. They that blas¬ 
pheme or curse God. 3. They that speak of God 
without grave cause or solemn occasion. 4. They 
that forswear themselves, that is, they that do not 


240 


ANALYSIS OF 


[Ch. IV. 


perform their vows to God, or that swear, or call 
God to witness to a lie. 5. They that swear 
rashly, or maliciously, to commit a sin, or an act of 
revenge. 6. They that swear by any creature 
falsely, or any way but as it relates to God, and 
consequently invokes his testimony. 7. All curious 
inquirers into the secrets, and intruders into the 
mysteries and hidden things of God. 8. They that 
curse God, or curse a creature by God. 9. They 
that profane churches, holy utensils, holy persons, 
holy customs, holy sacraments. 10. They that 
provoke others to swear voluntarily, and by design, 
or incuriously or negligently, when they might 
avoid it. 11. They that swear to things uncertain 
and unknown. 

IV. Comm. Remember that thou keep holy the 

Sabbath day. 



HE duties of this commandment are , 1. To 


J_ set apart some portions of our time for the 
immediate offices of religion, and glorification of 
God. 2. This is to be done according as God or 
his holy church hath appointed. 8. One day in 
seven is to be set apart. 4. The Christian day is 
to be subrogated into the place of the Jews’ day : 
the resurrection of Christ and the redemption of 
man was a greater blessing than to create him. 
o. God on that day to be worshipped and acknowl¬ 
edged as our Creator and as our Saviour. 6. The 


Sect. 8.] 


THE DECALOGUE. 


241 


day to be spent in holy offices, in hearing divine 
service, public prayers, frequenting the congrega¬ 
tions, hearing the word of God read or expounded, 
reading good books, meditation, alms, reconciling 
enmities, remission of burdens and of offences, of 
debts and of work, friendly offices, neighborhood, 
and provoking one another to good works ; and to 
this end all servile works must be omitted, except¬ 
ing necessary and charitable offices to men or beasts, 
to ourselves and others. 

They sin against this commandment , 1. That do, 
or compel or incite others to do, servile works 
■without the cases of necessity or charity, to be esti¬ 
mated according to common and prudent accounts. 
2. They that refuse or neglect to come to the public 
assemblies of the Church, to hear and assist at the 
divine offices entirely. 3. They that spend the day 
in idleness, forbidden or vain recreations, or the 
actions of sin and folly. 4. They that buy and sell 
without the cases of permission. 5. They that 
travel unnecessary journeys. 6. They that act or 
assist in contentions or lawsuits, markets, fairs, &c. 

7. They that on that day omit their private devo¬ 
tion, unless the whole day be spent in public. 

8. They that by any cross or contradictory actions 
against the customs of the Church do purposely 
desecrate or unhallow and make the day common ; 
as they that in despite and contempt fast upon the 
Lord’s day, lest they may celebrate the festival 
after the manner of the Christians. 


ll 


p 


242 


ANALYSIS ON 


[Ch. IV. 


V. Comm. Honor thy father and mother. 


r bj ^HE duties are , 1. To do honor and reverence 
I to, and -to love, our natural parents. 2. To 
obey all their domestic commands ; for in them 
the scene of their authority lies. 3. To give them 
maintenance and support in their needs. 4. To 
obey kings and all that are in authority, o. To 
pay tribute and honors, custom and reverence. 
G. To do reverence to the aged and all our betters. 


7. To obey our masters, spiritual governors and 
guides, in those things which concern their several 
respective interests and authority. 

They sin against this commandment , 1. That de¬ 
spise their parents’ age or infirmity. 2. That are 
ashamed of their poverty and extraction. 3. That 
publish their vices, errors, and infirmities, to shame 
them. 4. That refuse and reject all or any of 
their lawful commands. 5. Children that marry 
without or against their consent vvhen it may be 
reasonably obtained. 6. That curse them from 
whom they receive so many blessings. 7. That 
grieve the souls of their parents by not complying 
in their desires, and- observing their circumstances. 

8. That hate their persons, that mock them, or use 
uncomely jestings. 9. That discover their naked¬ 
ness voluntarily. 10. That murmur against their 
injunctions, and obey them involuntarily. 11. All 
rebels against their kings, or the supreme power, 
in which it is legally and justly invested. 12. That 




Sect. 8.] 


THE DECALOGUE. 


243 


refuse to pay tributes and impositions imposed le¬ 
gally. 13. They that disobey their masters, mur¬ 
mur or repine against their commands, abuse or 
del ide their peisons, talk lude- Credebant hoc grande nefas 
ly, &c. 14. They that curse 

the king in their heart, or speak 
evil of the ruler of their people. 

15. All that are uncivil and rude towards aged per 
sons, mockers and scorners of them. 


et morte piandum, 

Si j uvenis vetulo non assur- 
rexerat, ct si 
Barbato cuicunque puer. 

Juv. Sat. xiii. 54. 


VI. Comm. Thou shalt do no murder. 

T HE duties are , 1. To preserve our own lives, 
the lives of our relatives (and all with whom 
we converse, or who can need us, and we assist), 
by prudent, reasonable, and wary defences, advoca¬ 
tions, discoveries of snares, &c. 2. To preserve our 
health, and the integrity of our bodies and minds, 
and of others. 3. To preserve and follow peace 
with all men. 

They sin against this commandment , 1. That de¬ 
stroy the life of a man or woman, himself or any 
other. 2. That do violence to, or dismember or 
hurt, any part of the body with evil intent. 3. That 
fight duels or commence unjust wars. 4. They 
that willingly hasten their own or others’ death. 
5. That by oppression or violence embitter the 
spirits of any, so as to make their life sad, and their 
death hasty. G. They that conceal the dangers 
of their neighbor, which they can safely discover. 


244 


ANALYSIS OF 


[Ch. IV. 


7. They that sow strife and contention among 
neighbors. 8. They that refuse to rescue or pre¬ 
serve those whom they can and are obliged to pre¬ 
serve. 9. They that procure abortion. 10. They 
that threaten or keep men in fears, or hate them. 

VII. Comm. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 

T HE duties are, 1. To preserve our bodies in 
the chastity of a single life, or of marriage. 
2. To keep all the parts of our bodies in the care 
and severities of chastity ; so that we be restrained 
in our eyes as well as in our feet. 

They sin against this commandment , 1. Who are 
adulterous, incestuous, sodomitical, or commit for¬ 
nication. 2. They that commit folly alone, dis¬ 
honoring their own bodies with softness and wan¬ 
tonness. 3. They that immoderately let loose the 
reins of their bolder appetite, though within the 
protection of marriage. 4. They that by wanton 
gestures, wandering eyes, lascivious dressings, dis¬ 
covery of the nakedness of themselves or others, 
filthy discourse, high diet, amorous songs, balls and 
revellings, tempt and betray themselves or others 
to folly. 5. They that marry a woman divorced 
for adultery. 6. They that divorce their wives, 
except for adultery, and marry another. 


Sect. 8,] 


THE DECALOGUE. 


245 


VIII. Comm. Thou shalt not steal. 

T HE duties are , 1. To give every man his due. 

2. To permit every man to enjoy his own 
goods and estate quietly. 

They sin against this commandment , 1. That in¬ 
jure any man’s estate by open violence or by secret 
robbery, by stealth or cozenage, by arts of bargain¬ 
ing or vexatious lawsuits. 2. That refuse or neglect 
to pay their debts when they are able. 3. That 
are forward to run into debt knowingly beyond 
their power, without hopes or jmrposes of repay¬ 
ment. 4. Oppressors of the poor. 5. That exact 
usury of necessitous persons, or of any beyond the 
permission of equity as determined by the laws. 
6. All sacrilegious persons ; people that rob God of 
his dues, or of Ins possessions. 7. All that game, 
namely, at cards and dice, &c. to the prejudice and 
detriment of other men’s estates. 8. They that em- 
base coin and metals, and obtrude them for perfect 
and natural. 9. That break their promises to the 
detriment of a third person. 10. They that refuse 
to stand to their bargains. 11. They that by neg¬ 
ligence embezzle other men’s estates, spoiling or 
letting anything perish which is intrusted to them. 
12. That refuse to restore the pledge. 


246 


ANALYSIS OF 


[Ch. IV. 


IX. Comm. Thou shall not hear false witness. 

F | ^HE duties are , 1. To give testimony of truth 
I when we are called to it by competent au¬ 
thority. 2. To preserve the good name of our 
neighbors. 3. To speak well of them that de¬ 
serve it. 

They sin against this commandment , 1 . That 
speak false things in judgment, accusing their 
neighbor unjustly, or denying his crime publicly 
when they are asked, and can be commanded law¬ 
fully to tell it. 2. Flatterers ; and 3. Slanderers ; 
4. Backbiters ; and 5. Detractors. G. They that 
secretly raise jealousies and suspicion of their neigh¬ 
bors causelessly. 


X. Comm. Thou shalt not covet. 



HE duties are , 1. To be content with the 


JL portion God hath given us. 2. Not to be 
covetous of other men’s goods. 

They sin against this commandment , 1 . That 
envy the prosperity of other men. 2. They that 
desire passionately to be possessed of what is their 
neighbor’s. 3. They that with greediness pursue 
riches, honors, pleasures, and curiosities. 4. They 
that are too careful, troubled, distracted or amazed, 
affrighted and afflicted with' being solicitous in the 
conduct of temporal blessings. 

These are the general lines of duty by which we 



Slid'. 8.] 


THE DECALOGUE. 


247 


may discover our failings, and be humbled, and con¬ 
fess accordingly ; only the penitent person is to re¬ 
member that although these are the kinds of sins 
described after the sense of the Jewish church, 
which consisted principally in the external action, 
or the deed done , and had no restraints upon the 
thoughts of men, save onlv in the tenth command- 
merit, which was mixed, and did relate as much to 
action as to thought, as appears in the instances ; 
yet upon us Christians there are many circumstan¬ 
ces and degrees of obligation which endear our 
duty with greater severity and observation : and 
the penitent is to account of himself and enumerate 
his sins, not only by external actions, or the deed 
done , but by words and by thought; and so to reckon, 
if he have done it directly or indirectly, if he have 
caused others to do it, by tempting or encouraging, 
by assisting or counselling, by not dissuading when 
he could and ought, by fortifying their hands or 
hearts, or not weakening their evil purposes ; if he 

j 

have designed or contrived its action, desired it or 
loved it, delighted in the thought, remembered the 
past sin with pleasure or without sorrow. These 
are the by-ways of sin, and the crooked lanes in which 
a man may wander and be lost, as certainly as in 
the broad highways of iniquity. 

But besides this, our blessed Lord and liis Apos¬ 
tles have added divers other precepts ; some of 
which have been with some violence reduced to the 
Decalogue, and others have not been noted at all in 

o 7 


248 


THE SPECIAL PRECEPTS [Ch. IV. 


the catalogues of confession. I shall therefore de¬ 
scribe them entirely, that the sick man may dis¬ 
cover his failings, that by the mercies of God in 
Jesus Christ, and by the instrument of repentance, 
he may be presented pure and spotless before the 
throne of God. 


The special Precepts of the Gospel. 


a 1 Thes. 5.17. Luke 
18.1. 


b Mark 16.16. 
c Luke 13.3. Acts 3. 
19. 

<1 Matt. 5. 3. 


e Luke 14.10. John 
13.14. Rom. 12.10. 


f Matt. 5.5. Col. 3.12. 


g Matt. 10.16. 
1 Thes. 5. 8. 


h Rom. 8. 24. 
i Luke 16. 29. Mark 
4. 24. 

k 1 Tim. 4.13. 

1 Ueb. 10. 25. 

m Heb. 13.17. Matt. 
18.17. 


n 2 Thes. 3. 6. 2 Ep. 
John 10. 


I. a l^RAYER, frequent, fervent, 

1 holy, and persevering. 2. 
b Faith. 3. c Repentance. 4. d Pov¬ 
erty of spirit, as opposed to ambition, 
and high designs. 5. And in it is 
e humility or sitting down in the low¬ 
est place, and in giving honor to go 
before another. 6. f Meekness, as it 
is opposed to waywardness, fretful¬ 
ness, immoderate grieving, disdain, 
and scorn. 7. Contempt of the world. 
8. g Prudence, or the advantageous 
conduct of religion. 9. s Simplicity, 
or sincerity in words and actions, 
pretences and substances. 10. h Hope. 

II. 1 Hearing the word. 12. k Read¬ 
ing. 18. 1 Assembling together. 14. 
m Obeying them that have the rule 
over us in spiritual affairs. 15. n Re¬ 
fusing to communicate with persons 
excommunicate : whither also may 



Sect. 8.J 


OF THE GOSPEL. 


249 


be reduced, 0 to reject heretics. 16 . o Tit. 3.10. 

J P Col. 3. 14 . 1 Tim. 

p Charity, viz. q love to God above qM^kiS* 2 ' 22 ‘ 
all things ; brotherly-kindness, or 
profitable love to our neighbors as 
ourselves, to be expressed in alms, 

* forgiveness, and to r die for our * t fjohnVie. 
brethren. 17. 8 To pluck out the sMatt.18.9. 
right eye, or violently to rescind all 
occasions of sin, though dear to us 
as an eye. 18. 1 To reprove our tMatt.18.15. 
erring brother. 19. u To be patient u ^fia 81,4 ' Luko 
in afflictions: and x longanimity is xiicb. 12.3. Gai.c. 
referred hither, or long-sufferance ; 
which is the perfection and persever¬ 
ance of patience, and is opposed to 
hastiness and weariness of spirit. 

20. To be y thankful to our benefac- yEph.ii. 20 . 2 Thea. 

1 . 3. Luke 6. 32. 

tors : but above all, in all things to 2 Tim ‘ 3t 2 * 
give thanks to God. 21 . z To re- z l T h andY 4 Phil * 
joice in the Lord always. 22. a Not aiThes. 5 . 19 . 
to quench, # not to grieve, b not to * h Acts 7 . 51 ! 
resist the Spirit. 23. c To love our cEph. 5 . 33 . 
wives as Christ loved his Church, and 
to reverence our husbands. 24. d To a 1 Tim. 5 . 8. 
provide for our families. 25. e Not e coi. 3 . 21 . 
to be bitter to our children. 26. 
e To bring them up in the nurture gEph. 6 . 4 . 
and admonition of the Lord. 27. 
h Not to despise prophesying. 28. hiThes.5:2o. 

* To be gentle, and easy to be en- 12 Tim. 2.24. 

11* 


x a 


250 


THE SPECIAL PRECEPTS 


LCii. IV. 


k Matt. 18. 7. 1 Cor. 
10. 32. 

1 Ileb. 12.14. 


m 1 Cor. 6.1. 
n Phil. 4. 8. 


o 2 Cor. 8. 21. 
p 1 Thes. 5. 22. 

q Jam. 5.19, 20. 


r Matt. 10. 32. 


s ITeb. 12. 4. 


* Matt. 5.12. Jam. 1. 
2 . 


Luke 22.19. 
1 Cor. 11.16. 


y John 20. 30, 31. 
Acts 3.23. Mark 1. 
1. Luke 10.16. 
z Rev. 22.18. 


* 1 Cor. 11.16. 
a Jude 3. 
b Rom. 14.13, 22. 


treated. 29. k To give no scandal or 
offence. 30. 1 To follow after peace 
with all men, and to make peace. 
31. m Not to go to law before the 
unbelievers. 32. n To do all things 
that are of good report, or the actions 
of °public honesty; p abstaining from 
all appearances of evil. 33. q To 
convert souls, or turn sinners from 
the error of their ways. 34. r To 
confess Christ before all the world. 
35. 8 To resist unto blood, if God 
calls us to it. 36. * To rejoice in 
tribulation for Christ’s sake. 37. 
u To remember and x show forth the 
Lord’s death till his second coming, 
by celebrating the Lord’s Supper. 
38. y To believe all the New Tes¬ 
tament. 39. 2 To add nothing to St. 
John’s last book, that is, to pretend 
to no new revelations. 40. To keep 
the customs of the Church, her festi¬ 
vals and solemnities, lest we be re¬ 
proved as the Corinthians were by 
St. Paul, * We have no such customs , 
nor the churches of God. 41. a To 
contend earnestly for the faith. b Not 
to be contentious in matters not con¬ 
cerning the eternal interest of our 
souls, but in matters indifferent to 


Sect. 8.] 


OF THE GOSPEL. 


251 


have faith to ourselves. 42. c Not 
to make schisms or divisions in the 
body of the Church. 43. d To call 
no man master upon earth, but to 
acknowledge Christ our master and 
lawgiver. 44. c Not to domineer over 
the Lord’s heritage. 45. f To try all 
things, and keep that which is best. 

46. g To be temperate in all things. 

47. h To deny ourselves. 48. 1 To 
mortify our lusts and their instru¬ 
ments. 49. k To lend, looking for 
nothing again, nothing by way of in¬ 
crease, nothing by way of recom¬ 
pense. 50. 1 To watch and stand in 
readiness against the coming of the 
Lord. 51. m Not to be angry with¬ 
out a cause. 52. n Not at all to re¬ 
vile. 53. 0 Not to swear. 54. p Not 
to respect persons. 55. q To lay 
hands suddenly on no man. (This 
especially pertains to bishops ; to 
whom also, and to all the ecclesias¬ 
tical order, it is enjoined, that they 
'preach the word , that they he instant 
in season and out of season , that they 
rebuke , reprove , exhort , with all long - 
suffering and doctrine.) 56. To keep 
the Lord’s day (derived into an ob¬ 
ligation from a practice apostolical). 


c Rom. 16.17. 


d Matt. 23.8-10. 


e 1 Pet. 5. 3. 

fl John 4.1. IThes. 
5.21. 


g 1 Cor. 9.25. Tit. 2. 
2 . 

h Matt. 16. 24. 
i Col. 3. 5. Rom. 8. 
13. 


k Luke 6. 34, 35. 


1 Mark 13. 34. Matt. 
24. 42, and 25. 13. 


m Matt. 5. 22. 

n 1 Cor. 6.10. Matt. 
5.22. 

o Matt. 5. 34. 
p James 2.1. 

q 1 Tim. 5.22. 2 Tim. 
4. 2. 


252 


PRECEPTS OF THE GOSPEL. 


Ch. IV. 


s 1 Cor. 10.31. 
t Matt. 5.6. 


u Titus 3.9. 

x Matt. 5. 44. Rom. 
12.14. 

y 1 Tim. 2.1. 
z Titus 3.14. 

a Eph. 4. 28. 


b Matt. 5. 48. 

cl Pet. 3.8. 2 Pet. 1. 
6,7. 2 Cor. 8. 7. 2 
Cor. 9.5. 


57. 8 To do all things to the glory 
of God. 58. * To hunger and thirst 
after righteousness and its rewards. 
59. 11 To avoid foolish questions. 60. 
x To pray for persecutors, and to do 
good to them that persecute us, and 
despitefully use us. 61. y To pray 
for all men. 62. z To maintain good 
works for necessary uses. 63. a To 
work with our own hands that we be 
not burdensome to others, avoiding 
idleness. 64. b To be perfect, as our 
Heavenly Father is perfect. 65. c To 
be liberal and frugal : for he that 


will call us to account for our time, 
will also for the spending our money. 

66 . d Not to use uncomely jestings. 

67. e Modesty as opposed to boldness, 
to curiosity, to undecency. 68. f To 
be swift to hear, slow to speak. 69. 
g To worship the holy Jesus at the 
mention of his holy name ; as of old 
God was at the mention of Jehovah. 

These are the straight lines of Scripture by 
which we may also measure our obliquities, and 
discover our crooked walking. If the sick man 
hath not done these things, or if he have done con¬ 
trary to any of them in particular, he hath cause 
enough for his sorrow, and matter for his confes¬ 
sion ; of which he needs no other forms but that 


d Eph. 5. 4. 

c 1 Tim. 2.9. 
f James 1.19. 

g Phil. 2.10. 


Sect. 9.j 


CHARITY IN SICKNESS. 


253 


he heartily deplore and plainly enumerate his fol¬ 
lies, as a man tells the sad stories of his own 
calamity. 


Sect. IX. — Of the Sick Man’s Practice of Char¬ 
ity and Justice , by way of Rule. 


1. T ET the sick man set his house in order he¬ 
rn J fore he die; state his cases of conscience, 
reconcile the fractures of his family, reunite breth¬ 
ren, cause right understandings and remove jeal¬ 
ousies, give good counsels for the future conduct of 
their persons and estates, charm them into religion 
by the authority and advantages of a dying per¬ 
son ; because the last words of a dying man are 
like the tooth of a wounded lion, making a deeper 
impression in the agony than in the most vigorous 
strength. 


2. Let the sick man discover every secret of art, 
or profit, physic, or advantage to 

i i l j i o Magnifica verba mors prope 

mankind, if he may do it without adm ° ta exautit - ... 

J Sen. Troad. m. 575. 

the prejudice 01 a third person. Nam verm voces turn demum 
™ i •, pectore ab imo 

Some persons are so uncharita- Ejiciuntur. 

. i ■ ,i , .I •n Lucret. iii. 57. 

bly envious, that they are will¬ 
ing that a secret receipt should die with them, and 
be buried in their grave, like treasure in the sepul¬ 
chre of David. But this, which is a design of 
charity, must therefore not be done to any man’s 
prejudice; and the mason of Herodotus [Rliamp- 
sinitus], the king of Egypt, who kept secret his 


254 


PRACTICE OF CHARITY 


[Ch. IV. 


notice of the king’s treasure, and when he was a- 

dying told his son, betrayed his 

Herodot. ii.,121. , , , . , 

trust then when he should have 
kept it most sacredly for his own interest. In all 
other cases let thy charity outlive thee, that thou 
mayest rejoice in the mansion of rest, because by 
thy means many living persons are eased or advan¬ 
taged. 

3. Let him make his will with great justice and 
piety, that is, that the right heirs be not defrauded 
for collateral respects, fancies, or indirect fond¬ 
nesses : but the inheritances descend in their legal 
and due channel; and in those things where we 
have a liberty, that we take the opportunity of 
doing virtuously, that is, of considering how God 
may be best served by our donatives, or how the 
interest of any virtue may be promoted; in which 
we are principally to regard the necessities of our 
nearest kindred and relatives, servants and friends. 

4. Let the will or testament be made with inge- 

Aei 8e kou rr)v fiaaikeLav nuit y> openness, and plain ex- 

}8r, (ra(j)i)vL(xa.vTa Kara- pression, that lie may not entail 

A 17 relv, ay /arj ajat/nAo- 

■yos yevoixevr) npayp-ara a lawsuit upon his posterity and 

*'*’ c^tTx.n. Crop, relatives, and make them lose 
vui.r. o. tlieir charity, or entangle their 

estates, or make them poorer by the gift. He hath 
done me no charity , but dies in my debt , that makes 
me sue for a legacy. 

5. It is proper for the state of sickness, and an 
excellent aneling us to burial, that we give alms 


Sect. 9.] AND JUSTICE IN SICKNESS. 


255 


* Vide reg. 6. paulo inf. 


in this state, so burying treasure in our graves that 
■will not perish, but rise again in the resurrection 
of the just. Let the dispensation of our alms be 
as little intrusted to our executors as may be, ex¬ 
cepting the lasting and successive 
portions ; * but with our own 
present care let us exercise the charity, and secure 
the stewardship. It was a custom amongst the old 
Greeks to bury horses, clothes, Lucinn . De LucU c . 14 . 
arms, and whatsoever was dear Ik ' r “ <lo iv. lv ; . 7 ,!' Phn - 

7 iv. 2. Xiplnlin. m Severo. 

to deceased persons, supposing lxxiv - 4 - 
they might need them, and that without clothes they 
should be found naked by their judges ; and all the 
friends did use to briim gifts, by >. xx < - - . 

o * J AAAa, Kopau, tij 7rat0i Ae- 

such liberality thinking to pro- ^povo-ai, , 

. , n ,, . -t -i ®e Pf x.a Kara ^vxpou 86- 

mote the interest ot their dead. Kpja X6 ;Ve t6<[>ov. 

But we may offer our hrifra N ‘ 

ourselves best of all; our doles Fallax s®pe tides, tcstataque 

, rt i i • n ,, -i vota peribunt j 

and luneral meals, it they be our constitues tumuium, si sa- 

. . . >11 ,i pis, ipse tuum. 

own early provisions, Will then Sec Weever’s Fun. Mon. 
spend the better: and it is good p ’ 19 ‘ 
so to carry our passing-penny in our hand, and, by 
reaching that hand to the poor, make a friend in 
the everlasting habitations. lie that gives with his 
own hand shall be sure to find 
it, and the poor shall find it; 
but he that trusts executors with 
his charity, and the economy 
and issues of his virtue, by which 
he must enter into his hopes of 


Man, the behovyth oft to 
have this in mind, 

That thow gevest wyth thin 
hond, that sail thow fynd. 
For widowes betli sloful, and 
chyldren both unkynd, 
Executors beth eovetos, and 
kep al that they fynd. 

If eny body esk wher the 
deddys goodys becam, 


256 


PRACTICE OF CHARITY 


[Ch. IV. 


They answer, 

So God me help and Hali- 
dam, he died a poor man. 
Think on this. 
Written upon a wall in St. 


heaven and pardon, shall find 
but an ill account, when his ex¬ 
ecutors complain he died poor. 


Edmund’s Church in Lorn- ^Mnk on this. To this ltUl'llOSC 
bard-street. ± A 


See Weever’s Fun. Monu- w j se an( ] piouS Was the COUllSel 
ments, p. 19. A 

of Salvian : “ Let a dying man 
who hath nothing else of which he may make an 

effective oblation, offer up to 

t Contra Avarit. i. 29. 

God of his substance; let him 
offer it with compunction and tears, with grief and 
mourning, as knowing that all our oblations have 
their value, not by the price, but by the affection ; 
and it is our faith that commendeth the money, since 
God receives the money by the hands of the poor, 
but at the same time gives and does not take the 
blessing ; because he receives nothing but his own, 
and man gives that which is none of his own ; that 
of which he is only a steward, and shall be account¬ 
able for every shilling. Let it therefore be offered 
humbly, as a creditor pays his debts, not magnifi- 
cally, as a prince gives a donative : and let him re¬ 
member that such doles do not pay for the sin, but 
they ease the punishment; they are not proper 
instruments of redemption, but instances of suppli¬ 
cation, and advantages of prayer: and when we 
have done well, remember that we have not paid 
our debt, but shown our willingness to give a little 
of that vast sum we owe ; and he that gives plenti¬ 
fully according to the measure of his estate, is still 
behindhand according to the measure of his sins. 


Sect. 9.] AND JUSTICE IN SICKNESS. 


257 


Let him pray to God that this late oblation may be 
accepted ; and so it will, if it sails to him in a sea 
of penitential tears or sorrows that it is so little, and 
that it is so late .” 

G. Let the sick man’s charity be so ordered that 
it may not come only to deck the funeral and make 
up the pomp, charity waiting like one of the sol¬ 
emn mourners: but let it he continued, that, be¬ 
sides the alms of health and sickness, there may be 
a rejoicing in God for his charity long after his 
funeral, so as to become more beneficial and less 
public; that the poor may pray in private, and give 
God thanks many days together. This is matter 
of prudence, and yet in this we are to observe the 
same regards which we had in the charity and alms 
of our lives; with this only difference, that in the 
funeral alms also of rich and able persons, the pub¬ 
lic customs of the church are to be observed, and 
decency and solemnity, and the expectations of the 
poor, and matter of public opinion, and the repu¬ 
tation of religion; in all other cases let thy charity 
consult with humility and prudence, that it never 
minister at all to vanity, but be as full of advan¬ 
tage and usefulness as it may. 

7. Every man will forgive a dying person ; and 
therefore let the sick man be 

IIpos Ton reA evTrjoranO 1 

ready 0.11 cl sui 6511110 CcHi^ to sgiicI e/caoTo?, kolv <j</>66p<x 
to such persons whom he hath yiyverai 

1 91A09 TOTe. 

injured, and beg their pardon Dionye. ap. stob. fiohi. 

and do them right. For in this 


Q 


258 


PRACTICE OF CHARITY 


[Ch. IV. 


case lie cannot stay for an opportunity of conven¬ 
ient and advantageous reconcilement ; he cannot 
then spin out a treaty nor heat down the price 
of composition, nor lay a snare to be quit from 
the obligation and coercion of laws ; but he must 
ask forgiveness downright, and make him amends 
as he can, being greedy of making use of this op¬ 
portunity of doing a duty that must be done, but 
cannot any more, if not now, until time returns 
again, and tells the minutes backwards, so that 
yesterday shall be reckoned in the portions of the 
future. 

8 . In the intervals of sharper pains, when the 
sick man amasses together .all the arguments of 
comfort, and testimonies of God’s love to him and 
care of him, he must needs find infinite matter of 
thanksgiving and glorification of God: and it is a 
proper act of charity and love to God, and justice 
too, that he do honor to God on his death-bed for 
all the blessings of his life, not only in general 
communications, but those by which he hath been 
separate and discerned from others, or supported 
and blessed in his own person: such as are, In all 
my lifetime 1 never broke a bone , I never fell into 
the hands of robbers , never into public shame , or into 
noisome diseases ; I have not beyyed my bread , nor 
been tempted by great and unequal fortunes; God 
gave me a good understanding , good friends , or de¬ 
livered me in such a danger , and heard my prayers 
in such particular pressures of my spirit. This or 


Sect. 9.] AND JUSTICE IN SICKNESS. 


259 


the like enumeration and consequent acts of thanks¬ 
giving are apt to produce love to God, and confi¬ 
dence in the day of trial; for he that gave me 
blessings in proportion to the state and capacities 
of my life, I hope also will do so in proportion to 
the needs of my sickness and my death-bed. This 
we find practised as a most reasonable piece of 
piety by the wisest of the heathens. So Antipa¬ 
ter Tarsensis gave God thanks 

Plut. De Anim. Tran. p. 4G0c. 

for lus prosperous voyage into 

Greece : and Cyrus made a handsome prayer upon 

the tops of the mountains, when 

Xen. Cyrop. viii. 7. 3. 

by a phantasm he was warned of 

his approaching death : Receive, 0 God my Father ,* 

these holy rites by which I put an 

" ^ ' * [Zev 7raTpu>e.] 

end to many and great affairs : 
and I give thee thanks for thy celestial signs and 
prophetic notices, whereby thou hast signified to me 
what I ought to do, and ivhat I ought not. I present 
also very great thanks that I have perceived and ac¬ 
knowledged your care of me, and have never exalted 
myself above my condition for any prosperous acci¬ 
dent. And I pray that you will grant felicity to my 
wife, my children, and friends, and to me a death 
such as my life hath been. But that of Philagrius 
in Gregory Nazianzen is eucha- 

° J Epist. 34. 

ristical, but it relates more es¬ 
pecially to the blessings and advantages which are 
accidentally consequent to sickness : I thank thee, 0 
Father and Maker of all thy children, that thou art 


2G0 


PRACTICE OF CHARITY 


[Ch. IV. 


pleased to bless and to sanctify us even against our 
wills , and by the outward man purgest the inward 
and leadest us through cross ways to a blessed ending , 
for reasons best known unto thee. However, when 
we go from our hospital and place of little inter- 
medial rest in our journey to heaven, it is tit that 
we give thanks to the majordomo for our entertain¬ 
ment. When these parts of religion are finished, 
according to each man’s necessity, there is nothing 
remaining of personal duty to be done alone, but 
that the sick man act over these virtues by the re- 
newings of devotion, and in the way of prayer ; and 
that is to be continued as long as life and voice and 
reason dwell with us. 

Sect. X. — Acts of Charity , by way of Prayer 

and Ejaculation; which may be also used for 

Thanksgiving , in case of Recovery . 

Psal. xvi. 2. MY sold , thou hast said unto 

V/ the Lord , Thou art my Lord; 
my goodness extendeth not to thee; 3. But to the 
saints that are in the earth , and to the excellent , in 
whom is all my delight. 5. The Lord is the por¬ 
tion of my inheritance and of my cup ; thou main- 
tainest my lot. 

Psal. xviii. 30. As for God , his way is perfect: 
the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all 
those that trust in him. 31. For who is God , ex¬ 
cept the Lord? or who is a rock, save our God? 


Sect. 10 .] AND JUSTICE IN SICKNESS. 


261 


32. It is God that girdeth me with strength, and 
maJceth my ivay perfect. 

Psal. xxii. 19. He not thou far from me, 0 
Lord: 0 my strength, haste thee to help me. 

20. Deliver my sold from the sword, my darling 
from the power of the dog. 21. Save me from the 
lion’s mouth; and thou hast heard me also from 
among the horns of the unicorns. 

22. Iivill declare thy name unto my brethren; in 
the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. 

23. Ye that fear the Lord, praise the Lord: ye 
sons of God, glorify him, and fear before him , all ye 
sons of men. 24. For he hath not despised nor ab¬ 
horred the affliction of the afflicted, neither hath he 
hid his face from him; but when he cried unto 
him, he heard. 

Psal. xlii. 1. As the hart panteth after the water- 
brooks, so longeth my soul after thee, 0 God. 

2. My sold thirsteth for God, for the living God; 
when shall I come and appear before the Lordl 

6. 0 my God, my soul is cast down within me. 

7. All thy waves and billows are gone over me. 
10. As with a sword in my bones I am reproached. 

8. Yet the Lord will command his loving-kind¬ 
ness in the day-time; and in the night his song 
shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of 
my life. 

Psal. lxviii. 26. Bless ye the Lord in the congre¬ 
gations ; even the Lord from the fountains of 
Israel. 


262 


PRACTICE OF CHARITY 


[Cii. IV. 


Psal. lxxi. 15. My mouth shall shoiv forth thy 
righteousness and thy salvation all the day: for 1 
know not the numbers thereof. 

16. I will (jo in the strength of the Lord God: I 
will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine 
only. 17. 0 God, thou hast taught me from my 
youth; and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous 
■works. 14. But I will hope continually, and will 
yet praise thee more and more. 

19. Thy righteousness, 0 God, is very high, who 
hast done great things. 0 God, who is like unto 
thee? 20. Thou which hast showed me great and 
sore trouble, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring 
me up again from the depths of the earth. 

21. Thou shalt increase thy goodness towards 
me, and comfort me on every side. 

23. My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto 
thee ; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed. 

Psalm lxxii. 18. Blessed be the Lord God, the God 
of Israel, who only doth wondrous things. 19. And 
blessed be his glorious name forever; and let the 
whole earth be filed ivith his glory. Amen, Amen. 

Psal. cxvi. 1. I love the Lord, because he hath 
heard my voice and my supplication. 3. The sor¬ 
rows of death compassed me ; I found trouble and 
sorrow. 4. Then called I upon the name of the 
Lord: 0 Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. 
5. Gracious is the Lord and righteous; yea, our 
God Is merciful. 

6 . The Lord preserveth the simple ; I was brought 


Sect. 10.] AND JUSTICE IN SICKNESS. 


2G3 


low, and he helped me. 7. Return to thy rest, 0 my 
sold; the Lord hath dealt bountifully with me. 
8 . For thou hast delivered my soul from death , mine 
eyes from tears , and my feet from falling. 

15. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death 
of his saints. 1G. 0 Lord, truly L am thy servant , 
I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid; 
thou shalt loose my bonds. 

1 Cor. xvi. 22. He that lovetli not the Lord Jesus , 
let him be accursed. 

O that I might love thee as well as ever any 
creature loved thee! 1 John iv. 16. He that dwell- 
eth in love dwelleth in God. 18. There is no fear 
in love. 


The Prayer. 


MOST gracious and eternal God and loving 



Father, who hast poured out thy bowels 
upon us, and sent the Son of thy love unto us to 
die for love, and to make us dwell in love, and the 
eternal comprehensions of thy divine mercies; O 
be pleased to inflame my heart with a holy charity 
toward thee, and all the world. Lord, I forgive 
all that ever have offended me, and beg that both 
they and I may enter into the possession of thy 
mercies, and feel a gracious pardon from the same 
fountain of grace: and do thou forgive me all the 
acts of scandal whereby I have provoked, or 
tempted, or lessened, or disturbed any person. 


264 


PRACTICE OF CHARITY 


[Cii. IV. 


Lord, let me never have any portion among those 
that divide the union, and disturb the peace, and 
break the charities of the church and Christian 
communion. And though I am fallen into evil 
times, in which Christendom is divided by the 
names of an evil division ; yet I am in charity with 
all Christians, with all that love the Lord Jesus, 
and long for his coming, and I would give my life 
to save the soul of any of my brethren: and I 
humbly beg of thee, that the public calamity of the 
several societies of the church may not be imputed 
to my soul, to any evil purposes. 


II. 



ORD, preserve me in the unity of thy holy 


■ J church, in the love of God and of my neigh¬ 
bors. Let thy grace enlarge my heart to remem¬ 
ber, deeply to resent, faithfully to use, wisely to im¬ 
prove, and humbly to give thanks to thee for all 
thy favors with which thou hast enriched my soul, 
and supported my estate, and preserved my person, 
and rescued me from danger, and invited me to 
goodness in all the days and periods of my life. 
Thou hast led me through it with an excellent con¬ 
duct ; and I have gone astray after the manner of 
men ; but my heart is towards thee. O do unto 
thy servant as thou usest to do unto those that love 
thy name ; let thy truth comfort me, thy mercy 
deliver me, thy staff support me, thy grace sanctify 


S ECT. 10.] AND JUSTJCE IN SICKNESS. 


265 


my sorrow, and thy goodness pardon all my sins, 
thy angels guide me with safety in this shadow of 
death, and thy most Holy Spirit lead me into the 
land of righteousness, for thy name’s sake which is 
so comfortable, and for Jesus Christ his sake, otir 
dearest Lord and most gracious Saviour. Amen . 


12 




CHAPTER V. 


OF VISITATION OF THE SICK ; OR, THE ASSISTANCE THAT 
IS TO BE DONE TO DYING PERSONS BY THE MINISTRY 
OF THEIR CLERGY GUIDES. 


Sect. I. 


OD, who hath made no new covenant witli 



Vj dying persons distinct from the covenant of 
the living, hath also appointed no distinct sacra¬ 
ments for them, no other manner of usages but 
such as are common to all the spiritual necessities 
of living and healthful persons. In all the days of 
our religion, from our baptism to the resignation 
and delivery of our soul, God hath appointed his 
servants to minister to the necessities, and eternally 
to bless, and prudently to guide, and wisely to judge 
concerning souls ; and the Holy Ghost, that anoint¬ 
ing from above , descends upon us in several 
effluxes, but ever by the ministries of the church. 
Our heads are anointed with that sacred unction, 
baptism, not in ceremony, but in real and proper 
effect; our foreheads in confirmation, our hands in 
ordination, all our senses in the visitation of the 
sick; and all by the ministry of especially deputed 



Sect. 1.] VISITATION OF THE SICK. 


267 


and instructed persons. And we who all our life¬ 
time derive blessings from the fountains of grace, 
by the channels of ecclesiastical ministries, must do 
it then especially when our needs' are most pungent 
and actual. 1. We cannot give up our names to 
Christ, but the holy man .that ministers in religion 
must enroll them, and present the persons, and con¬ 
sign the grace. When we beg for God’s Spirit, the 
minister can best present our prayers, and by his 
advocation hallow our private desires, and turn 
them into public and potent offices. 2. If we desire 
to be established and confirmed in the grace and 
religion of our baptism, the holy man, whose hands 
were anointed by a special ordination to that and its 
symbolical purposes, lays his hands upon his cate¬ 
chumen, and the anointing from above descends by 
that ministry. 3. If we would eat the body and 
drink the blood of our Lord, we must address our¬ 
selves to the Lord’s table, and he that stands there 
to bless and to minister, can reach it forth, and feed 
thy soul ; and without his ministry thou eanst not 
be nourished with that heavenly feast, nor thy body 
consigned to immortality, nor thy soul refreshed 
with the sacramental bread from heaven, except by 
spiritual suppletories, in cases of necessity and an 
impossible communion. 4. If we have committed 
sins, the spiritual man is appointed to restore us, 
and to pray for us, and to receive our confessions, 
and to inquire into our wounds, and to infuse oil 
and remedy, and to pronounce pardon. 5. If we 


268 


MANNER OF VISITATION 


[Ch. V. 


Exod. 20. ]9. 


be cut off from tlie communion of the faithful by 
our own demerits, their holy hands must reconcile 
us and give us peace ; they are our appointed com¬ 
forters, our instructors, our ordinary judges : and in 
the whole, what the children of Israel begged of 

Moses, that God would no more 
speak to them alone, hut to his 
servant Moses, lest they should be consumed; God, 
in compliance with our infirmities, hath of his own 
goodness established as a perpetual law in all ages 
of Christianity, that God will speak to us by his 
ministers, and our solemn prayers shall be made to 
him by their advocation, and his blessings descend 
from heaven by their hands, and our offices return 
thither by their presidencies, and our repentance 
shall be managed by them, and our pardon in many 
degrees ministered by them. God comforts us by 
their sermons, and reproves us by their discipline, 
and cuts off some by their severity, and reconciles 
others by their gentleness, and relieves us by their 
prayers, and instructs us by their discourses, and 
heals our sicknesses by their intercession presented 
to God, and united to Christ’s advocation : and in 
all this they are no causes, but servants of the will 
of God , instruments of the divine grace and order, 
stewards and dispensers of the mysteries, and ap¬ 
pointed to our souls to serve and lead, and to help 
in all accidents, dangers, and necessities. 

And they who received us in our baptism are 
also to carry us to our grave, and to take care that 


Sect. 2.] 


OF SICK P Ell SONS. 


269 


our end be as our life was, or should have been: 
and therefore it is established 
as an apostolical rule, * Is any 
man sick among you ? let him 
send for the elders of the church ; 
and let them pray over him , &c. 

The sum of the duties and offices respectively im¬ 
plied in these words is in the following rules. 


Olov 7Tep a’uova SeSu i- 
Kare, roiavrrjv icai re\ev- 
rr)v SoiiuaL. 

Xen. Uyrop. viii. 7 3. 

* James 5.14. 


Sect. II. — Rules for the Manner of Visitation of 

Sick Persons. 

1. X ET the minister of religion be sent to, not 
I J only against the agony of death, but be 
advised with in the whole conduct of the sickness; 
for in sickness indefinitely, and therefore in every 
sickness, and therefore in such which are not mor¬ 
tal, which end in health, which have no agony-or 
final temptations, St. James gives the advice; and 
the sick man, being bound to require them, is also 
tied to do it when he can know them, and his own 
necessity. It is a very great evil both in the mat¬ 
ter of prudence and piety, that they fear the priest 
as they fear the embalmer or the sexton’s spade; 
and love not to converse with him, unless they can 
converse with no man else; and think his office so 
much to relate to the other world, that he is not to 
be treated with while we hope to live in this; and, 
indeed, that our religion be taken care of only when 
we die; and the event is this (of which I have seen 


270 


MANNER OF VISITATION 


[Cii. V. 


some sad experience), that the man is deadly sick, 
and his reason is useless, and he is laid to sleep, 
and his life is in the coniines of the grave, so that 
he can do nothing towards the trimming of his 
lamp; and the curate shall say a few prayers by 
him, and talk to a dead man, and the man is not in 
a condition to be helped, but in a condition to need 
it hugely. He cannot be called upon to confess 
his sins, and he is not able to remember them, and 
he cannot understand an advice, nor hear a free 
discourse, nor be altered from a passion, nor cured 
of his fear, nor comforted upon any grounds of rea¬ 
son or religion, and no man can tell what is likely 
to be his fate; or if he does, he cannot prophesy 
good things concerning him, but evil. Let the 
spiritual man come when the sick man can be con¬ 
versed withal and instructed; when he ‘can take 
medicine and amend; when he understands, or can 
be taught to understand, the case of his soul, and 
the rules of his conscience; and then his advice 
may turn into advantage: it cannot otherwise be 
useful. 

2. The intercourses of the minister with the sick 
man have so much variety in them, that they are 
not to be transacted at once: and therefore they do 
not well that send once to see the good man with 
sorrow, and hear him pray, and thank him, and dis¬ 
miss him civilly, and desire to see his face no more. 
To dress a soul for funeral is not a work to be dis¬ 
patched at one meeting: at once he needs comfort, 


Sect. 2.] 


OF SICK PERSONS. 


i 


271 


and anon something to make him willing to die; 
and by and by he is tempted to impatience, and 
that needs a special cure: and it is a great work to 
make his confessions well and with advantages; 
and it may be the man is careless and indifferent, 
and then he needs to understand the evil of his sin, 
and the danger of his person; and his cases of 
conscience may be so many and so intricate, that 
he is not quickly to be reduced to peace; and one 
time the holy man must pray, and another time he 
must exhort, a third time administer the holy sac¬ 
rament ; and he that ought to watch all the periods 
and little portions of his life, lest he should be sur- 
* prised and overcome, had need be watched when 
he is sick, and assisted and called upon and re¬ 
minded of the several parts of his duty, in every 
instant of his temptation. This article was well 
provided for amongst the easterlings; for the 
priests in their visitations of a sick person did 
abide in their attendance and ministry for seven 
days together. The want of this makes the visita¬ 
tions fruitless, and the calling of the clergy con¬ 
temptible, while it is not suffered to imprint its 
proper effects upon them that need it in a lasting 
ministry. 

3. St. James advises, that when a man is sick he 
should send, for the elders ; one 

J James 5.14. 

sick man for many presbyters : Gabriel [Biei] in iv. Sent . 

^ 1 J (1. 23. q. 1. c. 5. 

and so did the eastern churches, 

they sent for seven : and like a college of physi- 


272 


MANNER OF VISITATION 


[Ch. V. 


cians they ministered spiritual remedies, and sent 
up prayers like a choir of singing clerks. In cities 
they might do so, while the Christians were few, 
and the j^riests many. But when they that dwelt 
in the pagi or villages ceased to be pagans, and were 
baptized, it grew to be an impossible felicity, unless 
in a few cases, and to some more eminent persons : 
but because they need it most, God hath taken care 
that they may best have it; and they that can are 
not very prudent if they neglect it. 

4. Whether they be many or few that are sent 
to the sick person, let the curate of his parish or 
his own confessor be among them, that is, let him 
not be wholly advised by strangers who know not * 
his particular necessities; but he that is the ordi¬ 
nary judge cannot safely be passed by in his ex¬ 
traordinary necessity, which in so great portions 
depends upon his whole life past: and it is matter 
of suspicion when we decline his judgment that 
knows us best, and with whom we formerly did 
converse either by choice or by law, by private 
election or public constitution. It concerns us then 
to make severe and profitable judgments, and not 
to conspire against ourselves, or procure such assist¬ 
ances which may handle us softly, or comply with 
our weaknesses more than relieve our necessities. 

5. When the ministers of religion are come, first 
let them do their ordinary offices, that is, pray for 
grace to the sick man, for patience, for resignation, 
for health, if it seems good to God in order to his 


Sect. 2.] 


OF SICK PARSONS. 


273 


great ends. For that is one of the ends of the ad¬ 
vice of the Apostle. And therefore the minister 
is to be sent for, not when the case is desperate, 
but before the sickness is come to its crisis or pe¬ 
riod. Let him discourse concerning the causes of 
sickness, and by a general instrument move him to 
consider concerning his condition. Let him call 
upon him to set his soul in order, to trim his lamp, 
to dress his soul, to renew acts of grace by way of 
prayer, to make arfiends in all the evils he hath done, 
and to supply all the defects of duty as much as his 
pa^t condition requires and his present can admit. 

G. According as the condition of the sickness or 
the weakness of the man is observed, so the exhor¬ 
tation is to be less, and the prayers more, because 
the life of the man was his main preparatory: and 
therefore if his condition be full of pain and in¬ 
firmity, the shortness and small number of his own 
acts is to be supplied by the act of the ministers 
and standers-by, who are in such case to speak 
more to God for him, than to talk to him. For 
the prayer of the riqhteous, when 

r a J J . James 5.1G. 

it is fervent , hath a promise to 
'prevail much in behalf of the sick person. But 
exhortations must prevail with their own proper 
weight, not by the passion of the speaker. But yet 
this assistance by way of prayers is not to be done 
by long offices, but by frequent, and fervent, and 
holy. In which offices if the sick man joins let them 
be short, and apt to comply with his little strength 
12 * 


R 


274 


THE SICK MAX'S 


[Cm V. 


and great infirmities ; if they be said in his behalf 
without his conjunction, they that pray may pru¬ 
dently use their own liberty, and take no measures 
but their own devotions and opportunities, and the 
sick man’s necessities. 

'When he hath made this general address and 
preparatory entrance to the work of many days 
and periods, he may descend to the particular by 
the following instruments and discourses. 

Se^'T. III. — Of Ministering in the Sick Mail’s 
Confession of Sins and Repentance. 

HE first necessity that is to be served is 



1 that of repentance, in which the ministers 
can in no way serve him but by first exhorting him 
to confession of sins and declaration of the state 
of his soul. For unless they know the manner of 
his life, and the degrees of his restitution, either 
they can do nothing at all, or nothing of advantage 
and certainty. His discourses, like Jonathan’s ar- 
.rows, may shoot short, or shoot over, but not 
wound where they should, nor open those humors 
that need a lancet or a cautery. To this purpose 
the sick man may be reminded, — 

Arguments and Exhortations to move the Sick Man 
to Confession of Sins. 

1. That God hath made a special promise to con- 


Sl*CT. 3.] 


CONFESSION OF SINS. 


275 


Matt. 3. 6. 


Acts 19.18. 


fession of sins. He that con fessetli 

J . . 7 „ 7 7 7 1 7 „ Prov. 28.13. 1 John 1.9. 

ins sms and jorsateeth them shall 
have mercy: and if ice confess our sins, God is right¬ 
eous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all 
unrighteousness. 2. That confession of sins is a 
proper act and introduction to repentance. 3. That 
when the Jews, being warned by the sermons of the 
Baptist, repented of their sins, 
they confessed their sins to John 
in the susception of baptism. 4. That the converts 
in the days of the Apostles, returning to Christian¬ 
ity, instantly declared their faith and their repent¬ 
ance by confession and declara¬ 
tion of their deeds, which they 
then renounced, abjured, and confessed to the Apos¬ 
tles. 5. That confession is an act of many virtues 
together. 6. It is the gate of repentance; 7. An 
instrument of shame and condemnation of our sins ; 
8. A glorification of God, so called by Joshua, par¬ 
ticularly in the case of Achan ; 9. An acknowledg¬ 
ment that God is just in punishing ; for by confess¬ 
ing of our sins we also confess his justice, and are 
assessors with God in his condemnation of ourselves. 
10. That by such an act of judging ourselves, we 
escape the more angry judgment 
of God : St. Paul expressly ex¬ 
horting us to it upon that very inducement. 11. 
That confession of sins is so necessary a duty, that 
in all Scriptures it is the immediate preface to par- ' 
don j and the certain consequent of godly sorrow , 


1 Cor. 11. 31. 


270 


THE SICK MAN S 


[Ch. V 


and an integral or constituent part of that grace 
which together with faith makes up the whole 
duty of the gospel. 12. That in all ages of the 
gospel it hath been taught and practised respect¬ 
ively, that all the penitents made confessions pro¬ 
portionable to their repentance; that is, public or 
private, general or particular. 13. That God by 
testimonies from heaven, that is, by his word, and 
by a consequent rare peace of conscience, hath 
given approbation to this holy duty. 14. That by 
this instrument those whose office it is to apply 
remedies to every spiritual sickness can best per¬ 
form their offices. 15. That it is by all churches 
esteemed a duty necessary to be done in cases of a 
troubled conscience. 16. That what is necessary to 
be done in one case, and convenient in all cases, is 
fit to be done by all persons. 17. That without con¬ 
fession it cannot easily be judged concerning the sick 
person whether his conscience ought to be troubled 
or no, and therefore it cannot be certain that it is 
not necessary. 18. That there can be no reason 
against it but such as consults with flesh and blood, 
with infirmity and sins, to all which confession of 
sins is a direct enemy. 19. That now is that time 
when all the imperfections of his repentance and 
all the breaches of his duty are to be made up, and 
that if he omits this opportunity, he can never be 
admitted to a salutary and medicinal confession. 
20. That St. James gives an express precept, that 
we Christians should confess our sins to each other, 



Sect. 3.] 


CONFESSION OF SINS. 


277 


that is, Christian to Christian, brother to brother, 
the people to their minister; and then lie makes 
a specification of* that duty which a sick man is to 
do when he hath sent for the elders of the church. 
21. That in all this there is no SI tacueri , qui per c„..„, 
force lies upon him ; but if he 
hide his sins he shall not be di- 
rected, so said the wise man : a , d curandum f “ ile ** py°- 

7 dcsse non potent. Si enim 

but erelong he must appear be- erul ’ escat ®y rotus y ulnus 

° 11 medico connten, quod lgno- 

fore the great Judge of men and rat med ‘ cina ,ion curat. 

° ° Hierou. ad Eccles . c. 10. 

angels ; and his spirit will be Si enim hoc fecerimus, et 

n i i revelaveriin us peccata nostra 

more amazed and confounded non soium dco, sed et ws 
to be seen among the angels 2" 1,°”,"”,' e “!2S; 

of light with the shadows of 
the works of darkness upon (0pp * m> 953,) 
him, than he may suffer by confessing to God in 
the presence of him whom God hath sent to heal 
him. However, it is better to be ashamed here 
than to be confounded hereafter. 

* Plaut. Trin. ii. 2. 64. 

Pol , pudere quam pigere prfestal, Tam facile et pronum cstsu- 

tot idem llteris. J-Jiat con- Simortalis idem nemo sciat. 

n • i • • i i Juv. £«<. xiij. 75. 

fession being in order to pardon 
of sins, it is very proper and analogical to the na¬ 
ture of the thing, that it be made there where the 
. pardon of sins is to be administered; and that of 
pardon of sins God hath made the minister the 
publisher and dispenser; and all this is besides the 
accidental advantages which accrue to the con¬ 
science, which is made ashamed, and timorous, and 
restrained by the mortifications and blushings of 


278 


THE SICK MAN'S 


|Cii. V. 


discovering to a man the faults committed in secret. 

23. That the ministers of the Gospel are the minis¬ 
ters of reconciliation, are commanded to restore such 
'persons as are overtaken in a fault ; and to that 
purpose they come to offer their ministry, if they 
may have cognizance of the fault and person. 

24. That in the matter of prudence it is not safe 
to trust a man’s self in the final condition and last 
security of a man’s soul, a man being no good 
judge in his own case. And when a duty is so 
useful in all cases, so necessary in some, and en¬ 
couraged by promises evangelical, by Scripture 
precedents, by the example of both Testaments, 
and prescribed by injunctions apostolical, and by 
the canon of all churches, and the example of all 
ages, aud taught us even by the proportions of 
duty, and the analogy to the power ministerial, and 
the very necessities of every man; he that for 
stubbornness or sinful shamefacedness, or preju¬ 
dice, or any other criminal weakness, shall decline 
to do it in the days of his danger, when the vani¬ 
ties of the world are worn off, and all affections to 
sin are wearied, and the sin itself is pungent and 

Qui liomoculpamadmisit in grieVOUS, aild that WO .lie CC1- 

se nullu’st tam parvi preti . • i ii f 

Quinpudeat, quin purgetse. mill Wl bliaii llOL CSLUpe SildUie 

riaut. Aui. iv. io. go. f or them hereafter, unless we be 
ashamed of them here, and use all the proper in¬ 
struments of their pardon ; this man, I say, is very 
near death, but very far off from the kingdom of 
heaven. 


Sect. 3.] 


CONFESSION OF SINS. 


279 


2. The spiritual man will find, in the conduct of 
this duty, many cases and varieties of accidents 
which will alter his course and forms of proceed¬ 
ings. Most men are of a rude indifferency , apt to 
excuse themselves, ignorant of their condition, 
abused by evil principles, content with a general 
and indefinite confession ; and if you provoke them 
to it by the foregoing considerations, lest their 
spirits should be a little uneasy, or not secured in 
their own opinions, will be apt 

. -Verum hoc se amplccti- 

to say, / hey are sinners , as every tur uno, 

1 7 7 i. • /• • 77 Hoc ainat.hoclaudat: Matro- 

man hath his nijirmity, and he nam nuiiam ego tango. 

■jj i j Uor# Sat. i. 2* 5«5 

as ivell as any man ; but Groa 
he thanked , they hear no ill will to any man , or are 
no adulterers , or no rebels , or they fought on the right 
side; and God he merciful unto them,for they are 
sinners. But you shall hardly open their breasts 
further; and to inquire beyond this would be to do 
the office of an accuser. 

3. But, which is yet worse, there are very many 
persons who have been so used to an habitual 
course of a constant intemperance, or dissolution in 
any other instance, that the crime is made natural 
and necessary, and the conscience hath digested all 
the trouble, and the man thinks himself in a good 
estate, and never reckons any sins but those which 
are the egressions and passings beyond his ordi¬ 
nary and daily drunkenness. This happens in the 
cases of drunkenness, and intemperate eating, and 
idleness, and uncharitableness, and in lying and 


280 


THE SICK MAN'S 


[Cii. V. 


vain jestings, and particularly in such evils which 
the laws do not punish, and public customs do not 
shame, but which are countenanced hy potent sin¬ 
ners, or evil customs, or good nature, and mistaken 
civilities. 


Instruments by way of Consideration , to aivaken a 
careless Person , and a stupid Conscience. 

I N these and the like cases the spiritual man 
must awaken the lethargy, and prick the con¬ 
science, by representing to him, That Christianity 
is a holy and a strict religion. That many are 
called, but few are chosen. That the number of 
them that are to be saved is but very few, in re¬ 
spect of those that are to descend into sorrow and 
everlasting darkness. That we have covenanted 
with God in baptism to live a holy life. That the 
measures of holiness in Christian religion are not 
to be taken by the evil proportions of the multi¬ 
tude, and common fame of looser and less severe 
persons; because the multitude is that which does 
not enter into heaven , but the few, the elect , the holy 
servants of Jesus. That every habitual sin does 
amount to a very great guilt in the whole, though 
it be but in a small instance. That if the right¬ 
eous scarcely be saved, then there will be no place 
for the unrighteous and the sinner to appear in but 
places of horror and amazement. That confidence 
hath destroyed many souls, and many have had a 


Sect. 3.J 


CONFESSION OF SINS. 


281 


sad portion who have reckoned themselves in the 
calendar of saints. That the promises of heaven 
are so great, that it is not reasonable to think that 
every man, and every life, and an easy religion 
shall possess such infinite glories. That although 
heaven is a gift, yet there is a great severity and 
strict exacting of the conditions on our part to re¬ 
ceive that gift. That some persons who have lived 
strictly for forty years together, yet have miscar¬ 
ried by some one crime at last, or some secret hy¬ 
pocrisy, or a latent pride, or a creeping ambition, 
or a fantastic spirit; and therefore much less can 
they hope to receive so great portions of felicities, 
when their life hath been a continual declination 
from those severities which might have created 
confidence of pardon and acceptation, through the 
mercies of God, and the merits of Jesus. That 
every good man ought to be suspicious of himself, 
and in his judgment concerning his own condition 
to fear the worst, that he may provide for the bet¬ 
ter. That we are commanded to work out our sal¬ 
vation with fear and trembling. That this precept 
was given with very great reason, considering the 
thousand thousand ways of mis- 

rr,, , n it- Apud Surium, die 27 Sept. 

carrying, ihat St. Taul him¬ 
self, and St. Arsenius, and St. Elzearius, and divers 
other remarkable saints had at some times great 
apprehensions of the dangers of failing of the 
mighty price of their high calling. That the stake 
that is to be secured is of so great an interest, that 


282 


THE SICK MAN'S 


[Cii. V. 


all our industry and all the violences we can suffer 
in the prosecution of it are not considerable. That 
this affair is to be done but once, and then never 
any more unto eternal ages. That they who pro¬ 
fess themselves servants of the institution and ser¬ 
vants of the law and discipline of Jesus, will find 
that they must judge themselves by the proportions 
of that law by which they were to rule themselves. 
That the laws of society and civility, and the 
voices of my company, are as ill judges as they 
are guides ; but we are to stand or fall by His sen¬ 
tence who will not consider or value the talk of 
idle men, or the persuasion of wilfully abused con¬ 
sciences, but of him who hath felt our infirmity in 
all things but sin, and knows where our failings are 
unavoidable, and where and in what degree they 
are excusable; but never will endure a sin should 
seize upon any part of our love, and deliberate 
i John 3 . 20 . choice, or careless cohabitation. 
i cor. 4 . 4 . That if our conscience accuse us 

not , yet are we not hereby justified, for God is 
greater than our consciences. That they who are 
most innocent have their consciences most tender 
and sensible. 2. That scrupulous persons are 
always most religious; and that to feel nothing is 
not a sign of life, but of death. That nothing can 
be hid from the eyes of the Lord, to whom the day 
and the night, public and private, words and 
thoughts, actions and designs are equally discern¬ 
ible. That a lukewarm person is only secured in 


Skct. 3.] 


CONFESSION OF SINS. 


283 


his own thoughts, but very unsafe in the event, and 
despised by God. That we live in an age in 
which that which is called and esteemed a holy life , 
in the days of the Apostles and holy primitives 
would have been esteemed indifferent , sometimes 
scandalous , and always cold. That what was a 
truth of God then is so now; and to what severi¬ 
ties they were tied, for the same also we are to be 
accountable; and heaven is not now an easier pur¬ 
chase than it was then. That if he would cast up 
his accounts, even with a superficial eye, let him 
consider how few good works he hath done, how 
inconsiderable is the relief which he gave to the 
poor, how little are the extraordinaries of his relig¬ 
ion, and how unactive and lame, how polluted and 
disordered, how unchosen and unpleasant, were the 
ordinary parts and periods of it, and how many and 
great sins have stained his course of life: and until 
he enters into a particular scrutiny, let him only 
revolve in his mind what his general course hath 
been; and in the way of prudence let him say 
whether it was laudable and holy, or only indiffer¬ 
ent and excusable: and if he can think it only ex¬ 
cusable, and so as to hope for pardon by such sup- 
pletories of faith and arts of persuasion which he 
and others use to take in for auxiliaries to their un¬ 
reasonable confidence, then he cannot but think it 

\ei^ fit that he seaicll into his Uli mors gravis incubat 

own state, and take a guide, and 
erect a tribunal, or apoear be- 


Sen. Thyest. ii. 401. 


284 


THE SICK MAN'S 


[Ch. V. 


fore that which Christ hath erected for him on earth, 
that lie may make his access fairer when he shall 
be called before the dreadful tribunal of Christ in 
the clouds. For if he can. be confident upon the 
stock of an unpraised or a looser life, and should 
dare to venture upon wild accounts without order, 
without abatements, without consideration, without 
conduct, without fear, without scrutinies and con¬ 
fessions, and instruments of amends or pardon, he 
either knows not his danger, or cares not for it, and 
little understands how great a horror that is that a 
man should rest his head for ever upon a cradle of 
flames, and lie in a bed of sorrows and never sleep, 
and never end his groans or the gnashing of his 
teeth. 

This is that which some spiritual persons call a 
wakening of a sinner by the terrors of the law ; 
which is a good analogy or tropical expression, to 
represent the threatenings of the gospel, and the • 
danger of an incurious and a sinning person: but 
we have nothing else to do with the terrors of 
the law; for, blessed be God , they concern us not. 
The terrors of the law were the intermination of 
curses upon all those that ever broke any of the 
least commandments, once, or in any instance: and 
to it the righteousness of faith is opposed. The ter¬ 
rors of the law admitted no repentance, no pardon, 
no abatement, and were so severe, that God never 
inflicted them at all according to the letter, because 
he admitted all to repentance that desired it with a 


Sect. 3.J 


CONFESSION OF SINS. 


285 


timely prayer, unless in very few cases, as of 
Achan, or Korah, the gatherer of sticks upon the 
sabbath-day, or the like: but the state of threaten- 
ings in the Gospel is very fearful, because the con¬ 
ditions of avoiding them are easy and ready, and 
they happen to evil persons after many warnings, 
second thoughts, frequent invitations to pardon and 
repentance, and after one entire pardon consigned 
in baptism. And in this sense it is necessary that 4 
such persons as we now deal withal should be in- 
structed concerning their danger. 

o o 

4. W lien the sick man is either of himself or by 
these considerations set forward with purposes of 
repentance, and confession of his sins, in order to 
all its holy purposes and effects, then the minister 
is to assist him in the understanding the number of 
his sins, that is, the several kinds of them, and the 
various manners of prevaricating the divine com¬ 
mandments : for as for the number of particulars in 
every kind, he will need less help; and if he did, 
he can have it nowhere but in his own conscience, 
and from the witnesses of his conversation. Let 
this be done by prudent insinuation, by arts of re¬ 
membrance, and secret notices, and propounding 
occasions and instruments of recalling such things 
to his mind, which either by public fame he is ac¬ 
cused of, or by the temptations of his condition it is 
likely lie might have contracted. 

5. If the person be truly penitent, and forward 
to confess all that are set before him, or offered to 


286 


THE SICK MAN'S 


[Ch. V. 


his sight at a half face, then he may be complied 
withal in all his innocent circumstances, and his 
conscience made placid and willing, and he be 
drawn forward by good nature and civility, that his 
repentance in all the jiarts of it, and in every step 
of its progress and emanation, may be as voluntary 
and chosen as it can. For by that means if the 
sick person can be invited to do the work of relig¬ 
ion, it enters by the door of his will and choice, 
and will pass on toward consummation by the in- 
strument of delight. 

6. If the sick man be backward and without ap¬ 
prehension of the good-natured and civil way, let 
the minister take care that by some way or other 
the work of God be secured: and if lie will not 
understand when he is secretly prompted, he must 
be hallooed to, and asked in plain iuterrogatives 
concerning the crime of his life. He must be told 
of the evil things that are spoken of him in mar¬ 
kets and exchanges, the proper temptations and 
accustomed evils of his calling and condition, of the 
actions of scandal: and in all those actions which 
were public, or of which any notice is come abroad, 
let care be taken that the right side of the case of 
conscience be turned toward him, and the error 
truly represented to him by which he was abused ; 
as the injustice of his contracts, his oppressive bar¬ 
gains, his rapine and violence: and if he hath per¬ 
suaded himself to think well of a scandalous action, 
let him be instructed and advertised of his folly and 
his danger. 


Sect. 3.] 


CONFESSION OF SINS. 


287 


7. And this advice concerns the minister of re¬ 
ligion to follow without partiality, or fear, or inter¬ 
est, in much simplicity, and prudence, and hearty 
sincerity; having no other consideration but that 
the interest of the man’s soul he preserved, and no 
caution used, but that the matter be represented 
with just circumstances and civilities fitted to the 
person, with prefaces of honor and regard, but so 
that nothing of the duty be diminished by it; that 
the introduction do not spoil the sermon, and both 
together ruin two souls , of the speaker and the hearer. 
For it may soon be considered, if the sick man be a 
poor or an indifferent person in secular account, 
yet his soul is equally dear to God, and was re¬ 
deemed with the same highest price, and is there¬ 
fore to be highly regarded: and there is no temp¬ 
tation but that the spiritual man may speak freely 
without the allays of interest or fear, or mistaken 
civilities. But if the sick man be a prince, or a 
person of eminence or wealth, let it be remembered 
it is an ill expression of reverence to his authority, 
or of regard to his person, to let him perish for the 
want of an honest, and just, and a free homily. 

8. Let the sick man, in the scrutiny of his con¬ 
science and confession of his sins, be carefully re¬ 
minded to consider those sins which are only con¬ 
demned in the court of conscience , and nowhere 
else. For there are certain secrecies and retire¬ 
ments, places of darkness, and artificial veils, with 
which the Devil uses to hide our sins from us, and 


288 


TIIE SICK 31 AN'S 


[Ch. V. 


to incorporate them into our affections by a con¬ 
stant, uninterrupted practice, before they be preju¬ 
diced or discovered. 1. There are many sins 
which have reputation, and are accounted honor; 
as fighting a duel , answeritig a bloiv with a blow , 
carrying armies into a neighbor country, robbing 
with a navy, violently seizing upon a kingdom. 

2. Others are permitted by law, as usury in all 
countries: and because every excess of it is a cer¬ 
tain sin, the permission of so suspected a matter 
makes it ready for us, and instructs the temptation. 

3. Some things are not forbidden by law; as lying 
in ordinary discourse , jeering, scoffing, intemperate 
eating, ingratitude, selling too dear, circumventing 
another in contracts, importunate entreaties, and 
temptation of persons to many instances of sin, 
pride, and, ambition. 4. Some others do not 
reckon they sin against God, if the law r s have 
seized upon the person; and many that are im¬ 
prisoned for debt think themselves disobliged from 
payment; and when they pay the penalty, think 
they owe nothing for the scandal and disobedience. 
5. Some sins are thought not considerable, but go 
under the titles of sins of infirmity, or inseparable 
accidents of mortality: such as idle thoughts, fool¬ 
ish talking, looser r eve flings, impatience, anger, and 
all the events of evil company. 6. Lastly, many 
things are thought to be no sins; such as mis¬ 
spending of their time, whole days or months of use¬ 
less and impertinent employment, long gaming , win- 


Sect. 3.] 


CONFESSION OF SINS. 


289 


ning men's money in greater portions , censuring 
men's actions , curiosity , equivocating in the prices 
and secrets of buying and selling , rudeness , speak¬ 
ing truths enviously , doing good, to evil purposes , 
and the like. Under the dark shadow of these 
unhappy and fruitless yew-trees, the enemy of 
mankind makes very many to lie hid from them¬ 
selves, sewing before their nakedness the fig-leaves 
o f popular and idle reputation and impunity , pub¬ 
lic permission , a temporal penalty , infirmity , preju¬ 
dice, and direct error in judgment , and ignorance. 
Now in all these cases the ministers are to be in¬ 
quisitive and observant, lest the fallacy prevail 
upon the penitent to the evil purposes of death or 
diminution of his good; and that those things 
which in his life passed without observation, may 
now be brought forth and pass under saws and 
harrows , that is, the severity and censure of sorrow 7 
and condemnation. 

9. To which I add, for the likeness of the thing, 
that the matter of omission be considered; for in 
them lies the bigger half of our failings: and yet 
in many instances they are undiscerned, because 
they very often sit down by the conscience, but 
never upon it: and they are usually looked upon 
as poor men do upon their not having coach and 
horses, or as that knowledge is missed by boys and 
hinds which they never had; it will be hard to 
make them understand their ignorance; it requires 

knowledge to perceive it; and therefore he that 
13 s 


290 


THE SICK MAN'S 


[Cii. V. 


can perceive it, hath it not. But by this pressing 
the conscience with omissions, I do not mean reces¬ 
sions or distances from states of eminency or per¬ 
fection : for although they may be used by the 
ministers as an instrument of humility and a chas¬ 
tiser of too big a confidence, yet that which is to 
be confessed and repented of is omission of duty in 
direct instances and matters of commandment, or 
collateral and personal obligations, and is especially 
to be considered by kings and prelates, by govern¬ 
ors and rich persons, by guides of souls and presi¬ 
dents of learning in public charge, and by all oth- 
• ers in their proportions. 

10. The ministers of religion must take care that 
the sick man’s confession be as minute and partic¬ 
ular as it can, and that as few sins as may be, be 
intrusted to the general prayer of pardon for all 
sins; for by being particular and enumerative of 
the variety of evils which have disordered his life, 
his repentance is disposed to be more pungent and 
afflictive, and therefore more salutary and medici¬ 
nal ; it hath in it more sincerity, and makes a bet¬ 
ter judgment of the final condition of the man; 
and from thence it is certain the hopes of the sick 
man can be more confident and reasonable. 

11. The spiritual man that assists at the repent¬ 
ance of the sick must not be inquisitive into all the 
circumstances of the particular sins, but be content 
with those that are direct parts of the crime and 
aggravation of the sorrow: such as frequency , long 


Sect. 3.] 


CONFESSION OF SINS. 


291 


abode , and earnest choice in acting them ; violent de¬ 
sires, great expense, scandal of others ; disho7ior to 
the religion, dags o f devotion, religious solemnities 
and holy places; and the degrees of boldness and 
impudence, perfect resolution, and the habit. If the 
sick person be reminded or inquired into concern¬ 
ing these, it may prove a good instrument to in¬ 
crease his contrition, and perfect his penitential 
sorrows, and facilitate his absolution and the means 
of his amendment. But the other circumstances, 
as of the relative person in the participation of the 
crime, the measures or circumstances of the impure 
action, the name of the injured man or woman, the 
quality or accidental condition; these, and all the 
like, are but questions springing from curiosity, 
and producing scruple, and apt to turn into many 
inconveniencies. 

12. The minister in this duty of repentance must 
be diligent to observe concern- ., . 

° Nunc si depositum non inn- 

ing the person that repents, that tietur amicus, 

1 Si reddat veterera cum tota 

he be not imposed upon by some rerugine foiiem, 

. Prodigiosa fides et Tuscis 

one excellent thing that was digna tabeiiis. 

. Juv. Sat. xiii. CO. 

remarkable in the sick mans 
former life. For there are some people of one 
good thing. Some are charitable to the poor out 
of kind-heartedness, and the same good-nature 
makes them easy and compliant with drinking per¬ 
sons, and they die with drink, but cannot live with 
charity: and their alms, it may be, shall deck their 
monument, or give them the reward of loving per- 


292 


THE SICK MAN'S 


[Ch. V . 


sons, and the poor man’s thanks for alms, and pro¬ 
cure many temporal blessings; but it is very sad 
that the reward should be all spent in this world. 
Some are rarely just persons and punctual observ¬ 
ers of their word with men, but break their prom¬ 
ises with God, and make no scruple of that. In 
these and all the like cases the spiritual man must 
be careful to remark, that good proceeds from an 
entire and integral cause , and evil from every part; 
that one sickness can make a man die, but he can¬ 
not live and be called a sound man without an en¬ 
tire health; and therefore if any confidence arises 
upon that stock, so as that it hinders the strictness 
of the repentance, it must be allayed with the 
representment of this sad truth, That he who re¬ 
serves one evil in his choice hath chosen an evil por¬ 
tion , and coloquintida and death is in the pot: and 
he that worships the God of Israel with a frequent 
sacrifice, and yet upon the anniversary will how in 
the house of Venus, and loves to see the follies and 
the nakedness of Rimmon, may eat part of the 
flesh of the sacrifice, and fill his belly, but shall not 
be refreshed by the holy cloud arising from the 
altar, or the dew of heaven descending upon the 
mysteries. 

13. And yet the minister is to estimate that one 
or more good things is to be an ingredient into his 
judgment concerning the state of his soul , and the 
capacities of his restitution, and admission to the 
peace of the Church: and according as the excel- 


Sect. 3.] 


CONFESSION OF SINS. 


293 


lency and usefulness of the grace hath been, and 
according to the degrees and the reasons of its 
prosecution, so abatements are to be made in the 
injunctions and impositions upon the penitent. For 
every virtue is one degree of approach to God: 
and though in respect of the acceptation it is 
equally none at all, that is, it is as certain a death 
if a man dies with one mortal wound as if he had 
twenty ; yet in such persons who have some one or 
more excellencies, though not an entire piety, there 
is naturally a nearer approach to the state of grace 
than in persons who have done evils, and are emi¬ 
nent for nothing that is good. But in making 
judgment of such persons, it is to be inquired into, 
and noted accordingly, why the sick person was so 
eminent in that one good thing; whether by choice 
and apprehension of his duty, or whether it was a 
virtue from which his state of life ministered noth¬ 
ing to deliort or discourage him, or whether it was 
only a consequent of his natural temper and consti¬ 
tution. If the frst, then it supposes him in the 
neighborhood of the state of grace, and that in 
other things he was strongly tempted. The second 
is a felicity of his education, and an effect of Prov¬ 
idence. The third is a felicity of his nature, and 
a gift of God in order to spiritual purposes. But 
yet of every one of these, advantage is to be made. 
If the conscience of his duty was the principle, 
then he is ready formed to entertain all other 
graces upon the same reason, and his repentance 


294 


ABSOLVING THE 


[Cii. V. 


must be made more sharp and penal; because he 
is convinced to have done against his conscience in 
all the other parts of his life; but the judgment 
concerning his final state ought to be more gentle, 
because it was a huge temptation that hindered the 
man, and abused his infirmity. But if either his 
calling or his nature were the parents of the grace, 
he is in the state of a moral man (in the just and 
proper meaning of the word), and to be handled 
accordingly: that virtue disposed him rarely well 
to many other good things, but was no part of the 
grace of sanctification: and therefore the man’s 
repentance is to begin anew for all that, and is to 
be finished in the returns of health, if God grants 
it; but if he denies it, it is much, very much, the 
worse for all that sweet-natured virtue. 

14. When the confession is made, the spiritual 
man is to exercise the office of a restorer and a 
judge , in the following particulars and manner. 

Sect. IV. — Of the Ministering to the Restitution 
and Pardon , or Reconciliation , of the Sick Per¬ 
son, hg administering the Holg Sacrament. 

I F any man he overtaken in a fault , ye which are 
Gai. 6.1. spiritual restore such a one in 
James o. i4, i5. ^ ie S pi r fa 0 j meekness ; that’s 

the commission ; and Let the elders of the church 
pray over the sick man ; and if he have committed 
sins , they shall he forgiven him ; that’s the effect of 


Sect. 4.] 


SICK PENITENT. 


295 


his power and his ministry. But concerning this, 
some few things are to be considered. 

1. It is the office of the presbyters and minis¬ 
ters of religion to declare public criminals and 
scandalous persons to be such, that when the lep¬ 
rosy is declared the flock may avoid the infection ; 
and then the man is excommunicate, when the 
people are warned to avoid the danger of the man, 
or the reproach of the crime; to withdraw from 
his society, and not to bid him God speed; not to 
eat and celebrate synaxes and church-meetings with 
such who are declared criminal and dangerous. 
And therefore excommunication is in a very great 
part the act of the congregation and communities 
of the faithful; and St. Paul said to the church of 
the Corinthians, that they had i cor. 5.5,12,1.3. 
inflicted the evil upon the in- 2Cor. 2.6. 
cestuous person, that is, by excommunicating him. 
All the acts of which are, as they are subjected 
in the people, acts of caution and liberty; but no 
more acts of direct proper power or jurisdiction 
than it was when the scholars of Simon Magus left 
his chair and went to hear St. Peter: but as they 
are actions of the rulers of the church, so they are 
declarative , ministerial , and effective too by moral 
causality , that is, by persuasion and discourse , by 
argument and prayer , by homily and material rep- 
resentment, by reasonableness of order and the 
superinduced necessities of men; though not by 
any real change of state as to the person , nor by 


296 


ABSOLVING THE 


[Ch. V. 


diminution of his right, or violence to his con¬ 
dition. 

2. He that baptizes , and he that ministers the 
holy sacrament , and he that prays , does holy offices 


of great advantage ; but in these 
also, just as in the former, he 
exercises no jurisdiction or pre¬ 
eminence after the manner of 


Homines in remissionem 
peccatorum rainisterium su- 
um exhibent, non jusalicu- 
jus potestatis excrcent: ne- 
que enim in suo, sed in 
nomine Patris, Filii, et Spiri- 
tus Sancti peccata dimittunt. 


isti rogant, nivinitas donat. secular authority : and the same 

S. Ambros. Dc bpir. S. 


is also true if he should deny 


iii. 18 . 


them. He that refuseth to baptize an indisposed 
person hath, by the consent of all men, no power 
or jurisdiction over the unbaptized man; and he 
that for the like reason refuseth to give him the 
communion preserves the sacredness of the myste¬ 
ries, and does charity to the undisposed man, to 
deny that to him which will do him mischief. And 
this is an act of separation, just as it is for a friend 
or physician to deny water to an hydropic person, 
or Italian wines to an hectic fever, or as if Cato 
should deny to salute Bibulus, or the censor of 
manners to do countenance to a wanton and vicious 
person. And though this thing was expressed by 
words of power, such as separation , abstention , 
excommunication , deposition; yet these words we 
understand by the thing itself, which was notorious 
and evident to be matter of prudence, security, and 
a free, unconstrained discipline: and they passed 
into power by consent and voluntary submission, 
having the same effect of constraint, fear, and au- 


Sect- 4.] 


SICK PENITENT. 


297 


thority which we see in secular jurisdiction; not 
because ecclesiastical discipline hath a natural 
proper coercion, as lay tribunals have, but because 
men have submitted to it, and are bound to do so 
upon the interest of two or three Christian graces. 

3. In pursuance of this caution and provision, 
the Church superinduced times and manners of ab¬ 
stention , and expressions of sorrow, and canonical 
punishments, which they tied the delinquent people 
to suffer before they would admit them to the holy 
table of the Lord. For the criminal having obliged 
himself by his sin, and the Church having declared 
it when she could take notice of it, he is bound to 
repent to make him capable of pardon with God; 
and to prove that he is penitent, he is to do such 
actions which the Church, in the virtue and pursu¬ 
ance of repentance, shall accept as a testimony of 
it sufficient to inform her. For as she could not 
bind at all (in this sense) till the crime was public, 
though the man had bound himself in secret; so 
neither can she set him free till the repentance be 
as public as the sin, or so as she can note it and 
approve it. Though the man be free as to God 
by his internal act, yet as the publication of the sin 
was accidental to it, and the Church censure conse¬ 
quent to it, so is the publication of repentance and 
consequent absolution extrinsical to the pardon, 
but accidentally and in the present circumstances 
necessary. This was the same that the Jews did 
(though in other instances and expressions), and 
13* 


298 


ABSOLVING THE 


[Ch. V. 


clo to this day, to their prevaricating people; and 
the Essenes in their assemblies, and private col¬ 
leges of scholars, and public universities. For all 
these, being assemblies of voluntary persons and 
such as seek for advantage, are bound to make an 
artificial authority in their superiors, and so to se¬ 
cure order and government by their own obedience 
and voluntary subordination, which is not essential 
and of proper jurisdiction in the superior; and the 
band of it is not any coercive power, but the deny¬ 
ing to communicate such benefits which they seek 
in that communion and fellowship. 

4. These, I say, were introduced in the special 
manners and instances by positive authority, and 
have not a divine authority commanding them ; but 
there is a divine power that verifies them, and 
makes these separations effectual and formidable: 
for because they are declarative and ministerial in 
the spiritual man, and suppose a delinquency and 
demerit in the other, and a sin against God, our 
blessed Saviour hath declared that what they hind 
on earth shall be hound in heaven ; that is, in plain 
signification, the same sins and sinners which the 
clergy condemn in the face of their assemblies, the 
same are condemned in heaven before the face of 
God, and for the same reason too. God’s law hath 
sentenced it, and these are the preachers and pub¬ 
lishers of his law, by which they stand condemned ; 
and these laws are they that condemn the sin, or 
acquit the penitent, there and here ; whatsoever they 


Sect. 4.] 


SICK PENITENT. 


299 


bind here shall be bound there, that is, the sentence 
of God at the day of judgment Summllm fl[tur , judicii 

shall sentence the same men a1’omm™ic2 

whom the Church does rightly tl0ne orationis et conventus 


sentence here. 


per summam apostoli censu- 
ram in reos maximicri minis: 
sit avaOefxa papavOd, i. c. 
excommunicatus majori ex- 


et omnis sancti commercii 

It is spoken in rele s etur - 

1 Tert. Apol. c. 39 . 

the future, It shall be bound in Atque hoc idem innuitur 

heaven ; not but that the sinner 

is first bound there, or first ab- 

solved there; but because all «Sr."n“‘idjudSZ 
binding and loosing in the in- eum; ad quod judicium h®c 

^ censura Ecclesia? est relativa 

terval is imperfect and relative et in ordi "?- Tuin de,nu ™ 

L poenas dabit; ad quas, nisi 

to the day of judgment, the day resipiscat, hie consignatur. 
of the great sentence, therefore it is set down in 
the time to come, and says this only, the clergy 
are tied by the word and laws of God to condemn 
such sins and sinners; and that you may not think 
it ineffective, because after such sentence the man 
lives, and grows rich, or remains in health and 
power, therefore be sure it shall be verified in the 
day of judgment. This is hugely agreeable with 
the words of our Lord, and certain in reason: for 
that the minister does nothing to the final altera¬ 
tion of the state of the man’s soul by way of sen¬ 
tence is demonstratively certain, because he cannot 
bind a man but such as hath bound himself, and 
who is bound in heaven by his sin before his sen¬ 
tence in the Church: as also because the binding 
of the Church is merely accidental, and upon pub¬ 
lication only; and when the man repents, he is 
absolved before God, before the sentence of the 


300 


ABSOLVING THE 


[Ch. V. 


Church, upon his contrition and dereliction only; 
and if he were not, the Church could not absolve 
him. The consequent of which evident truth is 
this, that whatsoever impositions the church officers 
impose upon the criminal, they are to avoid scan¬ 
dal, to testify repentance, and to exercise it, to in¬ 
struct the people, to make them fear, to represent 
the act of God, and the secret and the true state 
of the sinner: and although they are not essen¬ 
tially necessary to our pardon, yet they are become 
necessary when the Church hath seized upon the sin¬ 
ner by public notice of the crime ; necessary (I say) 
for the removing the scandal , and giving testimony 
of our contrition , and for the receiving all that com¬ 
fort which he needs and can derive from the prom¬ 
ises of pardon, as they are published by him that 
is commanded to preach them to all them that re¬ 
pent. And therefore although it cannot be neces¬ 
sary as to the obtaining pardon, that the priest 
should in private absolve a sick man from his pri¬ 
vate sins, and there is no loosing where there was 
no precedent binding, and he that was only bound 
before God, can before him only be loosed: yet as 
to confess sins to any Christian in private may 
have many good ends, and to confess them to a 
clergyman may have many more; so to hear God’s 
sentence at the mouth of the minister, pardon pro¬ 
nounced by God’s ambassador, is of huge comfort 
to them that cannot otherwise be comforted, and 
whose infirmity needs it; and therefore it were 


Sect. 4.] 


SICK PENITENT. 


301 


very fit it were not neglected in the days of our 
fear and danger, of our infirmities and sorrow. 

5. The execution of this ministry being an act 
of prudence and charity, and therefore relative to 
changing circumstances, it hath been, and in many 
cases may , and in some must , be rescinded and 
altered. The time of separation may be length¬ 
ened and shortened, the condition made lighter or 
heavier; and for the same offence the clergyman 
is deposed, but yet admitted to the communion, for 
which one of the people, who hath no office to lose, 
is denied the benefit of communicating; and this 
sometimes when he might lawfully receive it: and 
a private man is separate, when a multitude or a 
prince is not, cannot, ought not. And at last, 
when the case of sickness and danger of death did 
occur, they admitted all men that desired it; some¬ 
times without scruple or difficulty, sometimes with 
some little restraint in great and insolent cases (as 
in the case of apostacy, in which 

1 J Arelat. i. can. 22 . 

the Council of Arles denied ab¬ 
solution, unless they received and gave public satis¬ 
faction by acts of repentance, and some other coun¬ 
cils denied at any time to do it to such persons), 
according as seemed fitting to the present necessi¬ 
ties of the Church.. All which particulars declare 
it to be no part of a divine commandment that any 
man should be denied to receive the communion if 
he desires it, and if he be in any probable capacity 
of receiving it. 


302 


ABSOLVING THE 


[Ch. V. 


6. Since the separation was an act of liberty and 

vide 2 cor. 2. io, and st. a direct negative, it follows that 
cypnan, Epist. 73. the restitution was a mere doing 

that whioh they refused formerly, and to give the 
holy communion was the formality of absolution, 
and all the instrument and the. whole matter of 
reconcilement; the taking off the punishment is the 
pardoning of the sin: for this without the other is 
but a word ; and if this be done, I care not whether 
anything be said or no. Vinum Dominicum min- 
istratoris gratia est , is also true in this sense, — to 
give the chalice and cup is the grace and indul¬ 
gence of the minister; and when that is done, the 
man hath obtained the peace of the Church; and 
to do that is all the absolution the Church can give. 
And they were vain disputes which were com¬ 
menced some few ages since concerning the forms 
of absolution , whether they were indicative or op¬ 
tative, by way of declaration or by way of sentence: 
for at first they had no forms at all, but they said 
a prayer, and after the manner of the Jews laid 
hands upon the penitent, when they prayed over 
him, and so admitted him to the holy communion. 
For since the Church had no power over her chil¬ 
dren but of excommunicating and denying them to 
attend upon holy offices and ministries respectively, 
neither could they have any absolution but to ad¬ 
mit them thither from whence formerly they were 
forbidden: whatsoever ceremony or form did sig¬ 
nify, this was superinduced and arbitrary, alterable 
and accidental; it had variety, but no necessity. 


Sect. 4.] 


SICK PENITENT. 


303 


7. The practice consequent to this is, that if the 
penitent be bound by the positive censures of the 
Church, he is to be reconciled upon those conditions 
which the laws of the Church tie him to, in case he 
can perform them; if he cannot, he can no longer 
be prejudiced by the censure of the Church, which 
had no relation but to the peo- Decret . iL Caus . ^ Q . 
pie, with whom the dying man (, - andt *- 7 - 

is no longer to converse. For whatsoever relates 
to God is to be transacted in spiritual ways, by con¬ 
trition and internal graces ; and the mercy of the 
Church is such as to give him her peace and her 
blessing upon his undertaking to obey her injunc¬ 
tions, if he shall be able: which injunctions, if they 
be declared by public sentence, the minister hath 
nothing to do in the affairs, but to remind him of 
his obligation, and reconcile him, that is, give him 
the holy sacrament. 

8. If the penitent be not bound by public sen¬ 
tence, the minister is to make his repentance as 
great and his heart as contrite as he can, to dispose 
him by the repetition of acts of grace in the way of 
prayer, and in real and exterior instances, where 
he can, and then to give him the holy communion 
in all the same cases in which he ought not to have 
denied it to him in his health, that is, even in the 
beginnings of such a repentance which by human 
signs he believes to be real and holy; and after 
this, the event must be left to God. The reason 
of the rule depends upon this ; because there is no 


304 


ABSOLVING THE 


[Ch. V. 


divine commandment directly forbidding the riders 
of the church to give the communion to any Chris¬ 
tian that desires it, and professes repentance of his 
sins. And all church discipline in every instance, 
and to every single person, was imposed upon him 
by men, who did it according to the necessities of 
this state and constitution of our affairs below: but 
we, who are but ministers and delegates of pardon 
and condemnation, must resign and give up our 
judgment when the man is no more to be judged 
by the sentences of man, and by the proportions of 
this world, but of the other : to which, if our recon¬ 
ciliation does advantage, we ought in charity to 
send him forth with all the advantages he can re¬ 
ceive ; for he will need them all. And therefore 

the Nicene Council commands 


Can. 13. Vide etiam Cone. 

Ancyr. c. G. Aurel. c. 12. that no man be deprived of this 
[Aurel. iii. cc. 6,25?] . 

necessary passport in the article 
of his death, and calls this the ayicient canonical law 
of the Church ; and to minister it only supposes the 
man in the communion of the Church, not always in 
the state, but ever in the possibilities of sanctifica¬ 
tion. They who in the article and danger of death 
were admitted to the communion, and tied to pen- 

O sacrum convivium in nilC6 if they T6COI ei'ed, (which 

was ever the custom of the 
ancient Church, unless in very 
^ses,) were but in the 
ed. venet.) threshold of repentance, in the 

commencement and first introductions to a devout 


quo Christus sumitur, recoil 
tur memoria passionis ejus, 
mens impletur gratia, et fu- 
turaB gloria} nobis pignus da- 


Skct. 4.] 


SICK PENITENT. 


305 


life; and indeed then it is a fit ministry, that it be 
given in all the periods of time in which the pardon 
of sins is working, since it is the sacrament of that 
great mystery, and the exhibition of that blood 
which is shed for the remission of sins. 

9. The minister of religion ought not to give the 
communion to a sick person, if he retains the affec¬ 
tion to any sin, and refuses to disavow it, or pro¬ 
fess repentance of all sins whatsoever, if he be re¬ 
quired to do it. The reason is, because it is a cer¬ 
tain * death to him, and an in- 

• * Ita vide ut prosit illis ig- 

crease of his misery, if he shall nosci quos ad poenam ipse 

J Deus deduxit: quod ad me 

SO profane the body and blood attinet, non sum crudelis, 

. sed vereor ne quod remise- 

of Christ as to take it into so ro patiar. — Tryphama dixit 

0 apud Petronium, Sat. c. 10U. 

unholy a breast, where batan 
reigns, and sin is principal, and the Spirit is extin¬ 
guished, and Christ loves not to enter, because he 
is not suffered to inhabit. But when he professes 
repentance, and does such acts „ . 

r Saevt quoque et implaca- 

of it as his present condition biles domini crudelitatem 

L suam impcdiunt, si, quando 

permits, he is to be presumed pcenitentiafugitivosreduxit, 

1 dedititiis hostibus parcimus. 

to intend heartily what he pro¬ 
fesses solemnly ; and the minister is only judge of 
the outward act, and by that only he is to take in¬ 
formation concerning the inward. But whether he 
be so or no, or if he be, whether that be timely, and 
effectual, and sufficient toward the pardon of sins 
before God, is another consideration, of which we 
may conjecture here, but we shall know it at dooms¬ 
day. The spiritual man is to do his ministry by 


T 


306 


ABSOLVING THE 


[Ch. V. 


the rules of Christ, and as the customs of the church 
appoint him, and after the manner of men ; the 
event is in the hands of God, and is to be expected, 
not directly and wholly according to his ministry, 

* (Jnjecunque ergo de pcc- but tO tile former life, Or the 

nimnd exteriorem^Ted 1 ad timely * internal repentance and 

interiorem referenda sunt, amen dment, of which I have 

reconciiiari potent. already given accounts. These 

Gratian. De Poen. Dist. 1. J o 

* Quisaiiquando,’c. 87. ministries are acts of order and - 
great assistances, but the sum of affairs does not 
rely upon them. And if any man put his whole 
repentance upon this time, or all his hopes upon 
these ministries, he will find them and hims'elf 
to fail. 

10. It is the minister’s office to invite sick and 
dying persons to the holy sacrament; such whose 
lives were fair and laudable, and yet their sickness 
sad and violent, making them listless and of slow 
desires, and slower apprehensions; that such per¬ 
sons who are in the state of grace may lose no ac¬ 
cidental advantages of spiritual improvement, but 
may receive into their dying bodies the symbols 
and great consignations of the resurrection, and 
into their souls the pledges of immortality; and 
may appear before God their Father in the union 
and with the impresses and likeness of their elder 
brother. But if the persons be of ill report, and 
have lived wickedly, they are not to be invited, be¬ 
cause their case is hugely suspicious, though they 
then repent and call for mercy: but if they de- 


Sect. 4.] 


SICK PENITENT. 


307 


mand it, they are not to be denied; only let the 
minister in general represent the evil consequents 
of an unworthy participation; and if the penitent 
will judge himself unworthy, let him stand candi¬ 
date for pardon at the hands of God, and stand or 
fall by that unerring and merciful sentence; to 
which his severity of condemning himself before 
men will make the easier and more hopeful ad- 
, dress. And the strictest among the Christians, 
who denied to reconcile lapsed persons after bap¬ 
tism, yet acknowledged that there were hopes re¬ 
served in the court of heaven for them, though not 
here : since we, who are easily deceived by the 
pretences of a real return, are tied to dispense 
God’s graces as he hath given us commission, with 
fear and trembling , and without 

J \ 1 Cor. 2. 3. 

too forward confidences ; and 
God hath mercies which we know not of; and 
therefore because we know them not, such persons 
were referred to God’s tribunal, where he would 
find them, if they were to be had at all. 

11. When the holy sacrament is to be adminis¬ 
tered, let the exhortation be made proper to the 
mystery, but fitted to the man; that is, that it be 
used for the advantages of faith, or love, or contri¬ 
tion : let all the circumstances and parts of the di¬ 
vine love be represented, all the mysterious advan¬ 
tages of the blessed sacrament be declared: That 
it is the bread which came from heaven; That it is 
the representation of Christ’s death to all the pur- 


308 


ABSOLVING THE 


[Ch. V. „ 


poses and capacities of faith, and the real exhibi¬ 
tion of Christ’s body and blood to all the purposes 
of the spirit; That it is the earnest of the resur¬ 
rection, and the seed of a glorious immortality; 
That as by our cognation to the body of the first 
Adam we took in death, so by our union with the 

body of the second Adam we 

1 Cor. 15. 21 . J . 

shall have the inheritance of 
life; for as by Adam came death, so by Christ cometli » 
the resurrection of the dead ; That if we, being worthy 
communicants of these sacred pledges, be presented 
to God with Christ within us, our being accepted 
of God is certain, even for the sake of his Well- 
beloved that dwells within us; That this is the 
sacrament of that body which was broken for our 
sins, of that blood which purifies our souls, by which 
we are presented to God pure and holy in the Beloved ; 
That now we may ascertain our hopes, and make 

our faith confident; for he that 

Rom. 8.32. i i • ci 

hath given us his Son, how should 
he not with him give us all things else ? Upon these 
or the like considerations the sick man may be as¬ 
sisted in his address, and his faith strengthened, and 
his hope confirmed, and his charity be enlarged. 

12. The manner of the sick man’s reception of 
vide Rule of noiy Living, the holy saciament hath in it 

Chap. iv. Sect. 10; and His- • i 9 ro • t. 

tory of the Life of Jesus, Part HOtJllllg cllllOllllg 110111 tilC OlCll^ 

m. Disc. is. nary solemnities of the sacra¬ 

ment, save only that abatement is to be made of 
such accidental circumstances as by the laws and 


Sect. 4.] 


SICK PENITENT. 


309 


customs of the Church healthful persons are obliged 
to; such as fasting, kneeling, &c. Though I re¬ 
member that it was noted for great devotion in the 
legate that died at Trent, that Pallavicin0j Hist. ctme. 
he caused himself to be sus- TruL xx ‘ 7 * 6 ' 
taiued upon his knees, when he received the viati¬ 
cum or the holy sacrament before his death ; and it 
was greater in Huniades, that he caused himself to 
be carried to the church, that there he might re¬ 
ceive his Lord in his Lord's house; and it was 
recorded for honor, that William, the pious Arch¬ 
bishop of Bourges, a small time before his last 
agony, sprang out of his bed at the presence of the 
holy sacrament, and upon his knees and his face 
recommended his soul to his Saviour. But in these 
things no man is to be prejudiced or censured. 

13. Let not the holy sacrament be administered 
to dying persons, when they have no use of reason 
to make that duty acceptable, and the mysteries 
effective to the purposes of the soul. For the sac¬ 
raments and ceremonies of the Gospel operate not 
without the concurrent actions and moral influen¬ 
ces of the suscipient. To infuse the chalice into 
the cold lips of the clinic may disturb his agony, 
but cannot relieve the soul, which only receives 
improvement by acts of grace and choice, to which 
the external rites are apt and appointed to minis¬ 
ter in a capable person. All other persons, as 
fools, children, distracted persons, lethargical, apo- 
plectical, or any ways senseless and uncapable of 


310 


VISITATION OF 


[Ch. V. 


human and reasonable acts, are to be assisted only 
by prayers; for they may prevail even for the ab¬ 
sent, and for enemies, and for all those who join 
not in the office. 


Sect. V. — Of Ministering to the Sick Person by 
the Spiritual Man , as he is the Physician of 
Souls. 



N all cases of receiving confessions of sick 
men, and the assisting to the advancement 
of repentance, the minister is to apportion to every 
kind of sin such spiritual remedies which are apt 
to mortify and cure the sin; such is abstinence 
from their occasions and opportunities, to avoid 
temptations, to resist their beginnings, to punish 
the crime by acts of indignation against the per¬ 
son, fastings and prayer, alms and all the instan¬ 
ces of charity, asking forgiveness, restitutions of 
wrongs, satisfaction of injuries, acts of virtue con¬ 
trary to the crimes. And although in great and 
dangerous sicknesses they are not directly to be 
imposed, unless they are direct matters of duty; 
yet where they are medicinal they are to be insin¬ 


uated, and 


in general signification remarked to 


concerning 


him, and. undertaken accordingly; 
which when he returns to health he is to receive 

Dccrct. h. caus. 2 G. q. particular advices. And this 
<, 4 ab infirnus.’ advice was inserted into the 

Penitential of England in the time of Theodore, 


Sect. 5.] 


SICK PERSONS. 


311 


archbishop of Canterbury, and afterwards adopted 
into the canon of all the western churches. 

2. The proper temptations of sick men, for 
which a remedy is not yet provided, are unreason¬ 
able fears , and unreasonable confidences , which min¬ 
isters are to cure by the following considerations. 

Considerations against unreasonable Fears of not 
having our Sins pardoned. 

M ANY good men, especially such who have 
tender consciences, impatient of the least 
sin, to which they are arrived by a long grace, and 
a continual observation of their actions, and the 
parts of a lasting repentance, many times overact 
their tenderness, and turn their caution into scru¬ 
ple, and care of their duty into inquiries after the 
event, and askings after the counsels of God, and 
the sentences of doomsday. 

He that asks of the standers-by, or of the min¬ 
ister. whether they think he shall be saved or 
damned, is to be answered with the words of pity 
and reproof. Seek not after new light for the 
searching into the privatest records of God: look 
as much as you list into the pages of revelation, for 
they concern your duty ; but the event is registered 
in heaven, and we can expect no other certain no¬ 
tices of it but that it shall be given to them for 
whom it is prepared by the Father of mercies. 
We have light enough to tell our duty; and if we 



312 


CONSIDER A TIONS A GAINS T [Cit. V. 


do that, we need not fear what the issue will be; 
and if we do not, let us never look for more light, 


or inquire after God’s pleasure 
concerning our souls, since we 


Matt. 9. 6. 


so little serve his ends in those things where he 
hath given us light. But yet this I add, that as 
pardon of sins in the Old Testament was nothing 
but removing the punishment, which then was 
temporal, and therefore many times they could tell 
if their sins were pardoned; and concerning par¬ 
don of sins they then had no fears of conscience 
but while the punishment was on them, for so long 
indeed it was unpardoned, and how long it would 
so remain it was matter of fear and of present sor¬ 
row : besides this, in the Gospel pardon of sins is 


another thing; pardon of sins 
is a sanctification ; Christ came 


Acts 3. 26. 


to take away our sins, by turning every one of us 
from our iniquities ; and there is not in the nature 
of the thing any expectation of pardon, or sign or 
signification of it, but so far as the thing itself dis¬ 
covers itself. As we hate sin, and grow in grace, 
and arrive at the state of holiness, which is also a 
state of repentance and imperfection, but yet of 
sincerity of heart and diligent endeavor; in the 
same degree we are to judge concerning the for¬ 
giveness of sins: for indeed that is the evangelical 
forgiveness, and it signifies our pardon, because it 
effects it, or rather it is in the nature of the thing; 
so that we are to inquire into no hidden records. 


Sect. 5.] 


FEARS IN SICKNESS. 


313 


Forgiveness of sins is not a secret sentence, a word, 
or a record; but it is a state of change, and effected 
upon us; and upon ourselves we are to look for it, 
to read it and understand it. (We are only to be 
curious of our duty , and confi- 

° Est modus In conscientia 

dent of the article of remission gionandi, ut noveris fidem 

. . tuam esse sinceram, spem 

ot sins ; and the conclusion of tuam esse certam. 

. . S. Aug. in Psalm. 149. 

these premises will be, that we 
shall be full of hopes of a prosperous resurrection; 
and our fear and trembling are no instances of our \ 
calamity, but parts of duty ; we shall sure enough be 
wafted to the shore, although we be tossed with the 
winds of our sighs, and the unevenness of our fears, 
and the ebbings and flowings of our passions, if we 
sail in a right channel, and steer by a perfect com¬ 
pass, and look up to God, and call for his help, and 
do our own endeavor.) ] There are very many rea¬ 
sons why men ought not to despair; and there are 
not very many men that ever go beyond a hope, 
till they pass into possession^) If our fears have 
any mixture of hope, that is enough to enable and 
to excite our duty; and if we have a strong hope, 
when we cast about, we shall find reason enough to 
have many fears. Let not this 

^ * Una est nobilitas, argumen- 

fear* weaken our hands ,* and tumque colons 

f . Ingenui, timidas non ha- 

if it allay our gayeties and our tmisse manus. 

. . . T Tetron. Frag. p. 883. 

confidences, it is no harm. In 
this uncertainty we must abide, if we have committed 
isins after baptism ; and those confidences which some 
v men glory in are not real supports or good founda- 
14 


314 


CONSIDERATIONS AGAINST ' [Ch. V. 


A 




\ 


1 Tim. 1.15. 
Ezek. 33. 11. 
Luke 15. 7 . 

1 John 2.1. 


lions. The fearing man is the safest; and if lie fears< 
on his death-bed, it is but what happens to most con¬ 
sidering men, and what was to be looked for all his 
lifetime : he talked of the terrors of death, and death 
is the king of terrors ; and therefore it is no strange 
thing if then he be hugely afraid: if he be not, it 
is either a great felicity or a great presumption. 
But if he wants some degree of comfort, or a 
greater degree of hope, let him be refreshed by , 
considering, — 

1. That Christ came into the world to save sinners. 

2. That God delights not in the 
confusion and death of sinners. 

3. That in heaven there is greed 
joy at the conversion of a sinner. 4. That Christ 
is a perpetual advocate , daily interceding with his 
Father for our pardon. 5. That God uses infinite 
arts, instruments, and devices to reconcile us to 
himself. G. That he prays us to he in charity with 

him , and to be forgiven. 7. That 
he sends angels to keep us from 
violence and evil company, from temptations and 
surprises, and his Holy Spirit to guide us in holy 
ways, and his servants to warn us and remind us 
perpetually; and therefore since certainly he is so 
desirous to save us as appears by his word, by his 
oaths, by his very nature, and his daily artifices of 
mercy, it is not likely that he will condemn us with¬ 
out great provocations of his majesty, and persever¬ 
ance in them. 8. That the covenant of the Gospel 


2 Cor. 5. 20. 




Sect. 5.] FEARS IN SICKNESS. 315 

is a covenant of grace and of repentance, and being 
established with so many great solemnities and mira¬ 
cles from heaven, must signify a huge favor and a 
mighty change of things; and therefore that re¬ 
pentance which is the great condition of it is a 
grace that does not expire in little accents and 
minutes, but hath a great latitude of signification, 
and large extension of parts, under the protection 
of all which persons are safe, even when they fear 
exceedingly. 9. That there are great degrees and 
differences of glory in heaven; and therefore if we 
estimate our piety by proportions to the more emi¬ 
nent persons and devouter people, we are not to 
conclude we shall not enter into the same state of 
glory, but that we shall not go into the same de¬ 
grees. 10. That although forgiveness of sins is 
consigned to us in baptism, and that this baptism is 
but once, and cannot be repeated; yet forgiveness 
of sins is the grace of the Gospel, which is perpet¬ 
ually remanent upon us, and secured unto us so 
long as we have not renounced our baptism: for 
then we enter into the condition of repentance; 
and repentance is not an indivisible grace, or a 
thing performed at once, but is working all our 
lives; and therefore so is our pardon, which ebbs 
and flows according as we discompose or renew the 
decency of our baptismal promises: and therefore 
it ought to be certain, that no man despair of par¬ 
don but he that hath voluntarily renounced his 
baptism, or willingly estranged himself from that 


316 


CONSIDERATIONS AGAINST [Ch. V. 


covenant. He that sticks to it, and still professes 
the religion, and approves the faith, and endeavors 
to obey and to do his duty, this man hath all the 
veracity of God to assure him and give him confi¬ 
dence that he is not in an impossible state of salva¬ 
tion, unless God cuts him off before he can work, 
or that he begins to work when he can no longer 
choose. 11. And then let him consider, the more 
he fears, the more he hates his sin that is the cause 
of it, and the less he can be tempted to it, and the 
more desirous he is of heaven; and therefore sucli 
fears are good instruments of grace, and good signs 
of a future pardon. 12. That God, in the old law, 
although he made a covenant of perfect obedience, 
and did not promise pardon at all after great sins, 
yet he did give pardon, and declare it so to them 
for their own and for our sakes too. So he did to 
David, to Manasses, to the whole nation of the Is¬ 
raelites ten times in the wilderness, even after their 

apostasies and idolatries. And 

Ezek. 18. Joel 2. 

in the prophets, the mercies of 
God and his remissions of sins were largely 
preached, though in the law God put on the robes 
of an angry judge and a severe lord. But there¬ 
fore in the Gospel, where he hath established the 
whole sum of affairs upon faith and repentance , if 
God should not pardon great sinners that repent 
after baptism with a free dispensation, the Gospel 
were far harder than the intolerable covenant of 
the law. 13. That if a proselyte went into the 


Sect. 5.J 


FEARS IN SICKNESS. 


317 


Jewish communion, and were circumcised and bap¬ 
tized, he entered into all the hopes of good things 
which God had promised or would give to his peo¬ 
ple ; and yet that was but the covenant of works. 
If then the Gentile proselytes by their circumcis¬ 
ion and legal baptism were admitted to a state of 
pardon, to last so long as they were in the cove¬ 
nant, even after their admission, for sins committed 
against Moses’s law, which they then undertook to 
observe exactly; in the Gospel, which is the cove¬ 
nant of faith , it must needs be certain that there is 
a great grace given, and an easier condition entered 
into, than was that of the Jewish law: and that is 
nothing else but that abatement is made for our in¬ 
firmities, and our single evils, and our timely- 
repented and forsaken habits of sin, and our vio¬ 
lent passions, when they are contested withal, and 
fought with, and under discipline, and in the begin¬ 
nings and progresses of mortification. 14. That 
God hath erected in his Church a whole order of 
men, the main part and dignity of whose work it 
is to remit and retain sins by a perpetual and daily 
ministry: and this they do, not only in baptism, 
but in all their offices to be administered after¬ 
wards; in the holy sacrament of the eucharist, 
which exhibits the symbols of that blood which 
was shed for pardon of our sins , and therefore by 
its continued ministry and repetition declares that 
all that while we are within the ordinary powers 
and usual dispensations of pardon, even so long as 


318 


CONSIDERA TIONS A GAINS T 


[Ch. V. 


we are in any probable dispositions to receive that 
holy sacrament. And the same effect is also signi¬ 
fied and exhibited to the whole power of the keys, 
which if it extends to private sins, sins done in 
secret, it is certain it does also to public. But this 
is a greater testimony of the certainty of the re- 
missibihty of our greatest sins: for public sins, as 
they always have a sting and a superadded formal¬ 
ity of scandal and ill example, so they are most 
commonly the greatest; such as murder, sacrilege, 
and others of unconcealed nature and unprivate 
action. And if God for these worst of evils hath 
appointed an office of ease and pardon, which is 
and may daily be administered, that will be an un¬ 
easy pusillanimity and fond suspicion of God’s 
goodness, to fear that our repentance shall be re¬ 
jected, even although we have not committed the 
greatest or the most of evils. 15. And it was con¬ 
cerning baptized Christians that St. John said, If 
any man sin , we have an Advocate with the Father , 
and he is the propitiation for our sins: and con¬ 
cerning lapsed Christians St. Paul gave instruction 
that if any man he overtaken in a fault, ye which 
are spiritual restore such a man in the spirit of 
meekness , considering lest ye also he tempted. The 
Corinthian Christian committed incest, and was 
pardoned: and Simon Magus after he was baptized 
offered to commit his own sin of simony, and yet 
St. Peter bid him pray for pardon: and St. James 
tells, that if the s-ick man sends for the elders of 


Sect. 5.] 


FEARS IN SICKNESS. 


319 


the church, and they pray over him , and he confess 
his sins, they shall he forgiven him. 1G. That only 
one sin is declared to be irremissible, the sin against 
the Holy Ghost , the sin unto death, as St. John calls 
it, for which we are not hound to pray; for all oth¬ 
ers we are: and certain it is, no man commits a sin 
against the Holy Ghost, if he be afraid he hath, 
and desires that he had not; for such penitential 
passions are against the definition of that sin. 
17. That all the sermons in the Scripture written 
to Christians and disciples of Jesus, exhorting men 
to repentance, to be afflicted, to mourn and to 
weep, to confession of sins, are sure testimonies of 
God’s purpose and desire to forgive us, even when 
we fall after baptism: and if our fall after baptism 
were irrecoverable, then all preaching were in 
vain , and our faith were also vain, and we could 
not with comfort rehearse the creed, in which, as 
soon as ever we profess Jesus to have died for our 
sins, we also are condemned by our own conscience 
of a sin that shall not be forgiven; and then all 
exhortations and comforts and fasts and disciplines 
were useless and too late, if they were not given 
us' before we can understand them; for most com¬ 
monly as soon as we can, we enter into the regions 
of sin ; for -we commit evil actions before we under¬ 
stand, and together with our understanding they 
begin to be imputed. 18. That if it could be oth¬ 
erwise, infants were very ill provided for in the 
Church, who were baptized when they had no stain 




320 


CONSIDER A TIONS A GAINS T [Ch. V. 


upon their brows but the misery they contracted 
from Adam: and they are left to be angels forever 
after, and live innocently in the midst of their 
ignorances, and weaknesses, and temptations, and 
the heat and follies of youth ; or else to perish in 
an eternal ruin. We cannot think or speak good 
things of God, if we entertain such evil suspicions 
of the mercies of the Father of our Lord Jesus. 
19. That the long-sufferance and -patience of God 
is indeed wonderful; but therefore it leaves us in 
certainties of pardon so long as there is possibility 
to return, if we reduce the power to act. 20. That 
God calls upon us to forgive our brother seventy 
times seven times ; and yet all that is but like the 
forgiving a hundred pence for his sake who forgives 
us ten thousand talents: for so the Lord professed 
that he had done to him that was his • servant and 
his domestic. 21. That if we can forgive a hun- 
dred thousand times, it is certain God will do so to 
us; our blessed Lord having commanded us to 
pray for pardon, as we pardon our offending and 
penitent brother. 22. That even in the case of 
very great sins, and great judgments inflicted upon 
the sinners, wise and good men and presidents of 
religion have declared their sense to be, that God 
spent all his anger, and made it expire in that tem¬ 
poral misery; and so it was supposed to have been 
done in the case of Ananias: but that the hopes 
of any penitent man may not rely upon any un¬ 
certainty, we find in holy Scripture that those 



Sect. 5.] 


FEARS IN SICKNESS. 


321 


Christians who had for their scandalous crimes 
deserved to be given over to Satan to be buffeted,j 
(yet had hopes to be saved in the day of the Lord} 
23. That God glories in the titles of mercy arm 
forgiveness, and will not have his appellatives so 
finite and limited as to expire in one act, or in a 
seldom pardon. 24. That man’s condition were 
desperate, and like that of the fallen angels, 
equally desperate, but unequally oppressed, consid¬ 
ering our infinite weaknesses and ignorances (in 
respect of their excellent understanding and per¬ 
fect choice), if he could be admitted to no repent¬ 
ance after his infant-baptism; and if he may be 
admitted to one, there is nothing in the covenant 
of the Gospel but he may also to a second, and so 
forever as long as he can repent, and return and 
live to God in a timely religion. 25. That every 
man is a sinner: In many things Jamcs 3 . 2 . 
we offend all; and, If we say iJohni.8. 
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves: and therefore 
either all must perish, or else there is mercy for 
all; and so there is, upon this very stock, because 
Christ died for sinners , and God 
hath comprehended cdl under sin, 
that he might have mercy upon all. 26. That if 
ever God sends temporal punishments into the 
world with purposes of amendment, and if they be 
not all of them certain consignations to liell, and 
unless every man that breaks his leg, or in punish¬ 
ment loses a child or wife, be certainly damned, it 
14* u 


Rom. 5. 8. 
11. 32. 



322 


EXERCISES AGAINST 


[Cii. V. 


is certain that God in these cases is angry and lov¬ 
ing, chastises the sin to amend the person, and 
smites that he may cure, and judges that lie may 
absolve. 27. That he that will not quench the smok¬ 
ing flax , nor break the bruised reed , will not tie us 
to perfection, and the laws and measures of heaven 
upon earth; and if in every period of our repent¬ 
ance he is pleased with our duty, and the voice of 
our heart , and the hand of our desires , he hath told 
us plainly that he will not only pardon all the sins 
of the days of our folly, but the returns and sur¬ 
prises of sins in the days of repentance, if we give 
no way, and allow no affection, and give no place 
to anything that is God’s enemy ; all the past sins , 
and all the seldom-returning and ever-repented evils 
being put upon the accounts of the cross. 

An Exercise against Despair in the Day of our 


Death. 



O which may be added this short exercise, 


to be used for the curing the temptation to 
direct despair, in case that the hope and faith of 
good men be assaulted in the day of their calamity. 

I consider that the ground of my trouble is my 
sin; and if it were not for that, I should not need 
to be troubled: but the help that all the world 
looks for is such as supposes a man to be a sinner. 
Indeed if from myself I were to derive my title to 
heaven, then my sins were a just argument of de- 


Sect. 5.] 


DESPAIR IN DEATH. 


323 


spair; but now that they bring me to Christ, that 
they drive me to an appeal to God’s mercies, and 
to take sanctuary in the cross, they ought not, they 
cannot infer a just cause of despair. I,am sure it 
is a stranger thing that God should take upon him 
hands and feet, and those hands and feet should be 
nailed upon a cross, than that a man should be 
partaker of the felicities of pardon and life eter¬ 
nal ; and it were a stranger yet, that God should 
do so much for man, and that man that desires it, 
that labors for it, that is in life and possibilities of 
working his salvation, should inevitably miss that 
end for which that God suffered so much. For 
what is the meaning, and what is the extent, and 
what are the significations of the divine mercy in 
pardoning sinners ? If it be thought a great mat¬ 
ter that I am charged with original sin, I confess 
I feel the weight of it in loads of temporal infe¬ 
licities and proclivities to sin: but I fear not the 
guilt of it, since I am baptized; and it cannot do 
honor to the reputation of God’s mercy, that it 
should be all spent in remissions of what I never 
chose, never acted, never knew of, could not help, 
concerning which I received no commandment, no 
prohibition. But, blessed be God, it is ordered in 
just measures that that original evil which I con¬ 
tracted without my will should be taken away with- 
out my knowledge; and what I suffered before I 
had a being was cleansed before I had a useful 
understanding. But I am taught to believe God’s 


324 ' 


EXERCISES AGAINST 


[Ch. v. 


mercies to be infinite, not only in himself, but to 
us; for mercy is a relative term, and we are its 
correspondents: of all the creatures which God 
made, we only in a proper sense are the subjects 
of mercy and remission. Angels have more of 
God's bounty than we have, but not so much of his 
mercy ; and beasts have little rays of his kindness, 
and effects of his wisdom and graciousness in petty 
donatives; but nothing of mercy, for they have no 
laws, and therefore no sins, and need no mercy, 
nor are capable of any. Since therefore man alone 
is the correlativ.e or proper object and vessel of 
reception of an infinite mercy, and that mercy is in 
giving or forgiving, I have reason to hope that he 
will so forgive me that my sins shall not hinder me 
of heaven; or because it is a gift, I may also upon 
the stock of the same infinite mercy hope he will 
give heaven to me: and if I have it either upon 
the title of giving or forgiving, it is alike to me, 
and will alike magnify the glories of the divine 

mercy. And because eternal life 

Rom. 6. 23. J J 

is the gift of God, I have less 
reason to despair : for if my sins were fewer, and 
my disproportions towards such a glory were less, 
and my evenness more, yet it is still a gift, and I 
could not receive it but as a free and a gracious 
donative; and so I may still, God can still give it 
me: and it is not an impossible expectation to wait 
and look for such a gift at the hands of the God of 
mercy ; the best men deserve it not, and I who am 


Sect. 5.] 


DESPAIR IN DEATH. 


325 


the worst may have it given me. And I consider 
that God hath set no measures of his mercy, but 
that we be within the covenant, that is, repenting 
persons, endeavoring to serve him with an honest 
single heart: and that within this covenant there 
is a very great latitude, and variety of persons, and 
degrees, and capacities ; and therefore that it can¬ 
not stand with the proportions of so infinite a mercy 
that obedience be exacted to such a point (which 
he never expressed), unless it should be the least, 
and that to which all capacities, though otherwise 
unequal, are fitted and sufficiently enabled. But 
however, I find that the Spirit of God taught the 
writers of the New Testament to apply to us all in 
general, and to every single person in particular, 
some gracious words which God in the Old Testa¬ 
ment spake to one man upon a special occasion in 
a single and temporal instance. Such are the words 
which God spake to Joshua, I 

f „ Heb. 13.5. 

tv ill never fail thee , nor forsake 
thee. And upon the stock of that promise St. Paul 
forbids covetousness, and persuades contentedness, 
because those words were spoken by God to Joshua 
in another case. If the gracious words of God have 
so great extension of parts, and intention of kind 
purposes, then how many comforts have we upon 
the stock of all the excellent words which are spoken 
in the Prophets and in the Psalms ? And I will 
never more question whether they be spoken con¬ 
cerning me, having such an authentic precedent so 


326 


EXERCISES AGAINST 


[Ch. V. 


to expound the excellent words of God: all the 
treasures of God which are in the Psalms are my 
own riches, and the wealth of my hope ; there will 
I look, and whatsoever I can heed, that I will de¬ 
pend upon. For certainly, if we could understand 
it, that which is infinite (as God is) must needs be 
some such kind of thing : it must go whither it was 
never sent, and signify what was not first intended ; 
and it must warm with its light, and shine with its 
heat, and refresh when it strikes, and heal when it 
wounds, and ascertain where it makes afraid, and 
intend all when it warns one, and mean a great 
deal in a small word. And as the sun passing to 
its southern tropic looks with an open eye upon his 
sun-burnt Ethiopians, but at the same time sends 
light from his posterns, and collateral influences 
from the back side of his beams, and se,es the 
corners of the east when his face tends towards 
the west, because he is a round body of fire, and 
hath some little images and resemblances of the 
Infinite : so is God’s mercy; when it looked upon 
Moses, it relieved St. Paul, and it pardoned David, 
and gave hope to Manasses, and might have re¬ 
stored Judas, if he would have had hope, and used 
himself accordingly. But as to my own case, I 
vixi, pcccavi,pccnitui, na- ha\ e sinned giie\ously and fre- 


turse cessi. — [Epitaph. See 
Camden’s liemaines, p. 331, 
cd. 1029.] 


L ’ quently: but I have repented 
it, but I have begged pardon, I 


have confessed it and forsaken it. I cannot undo 
what was done, and I perish if God hath appointed 


Sect. 5 J 


DESPAIR IN DEATH. 


327 


no remedy, if there be no remission; but then my 
religion falls together with my hope, and God’s 
word fails as well as I. But I believe the article 
of forgiveness of sins , and if there be any such thing, 
I may do well, for I have, and do, and will do that 
which all good men call repentance; that is, I will 
be humbled before God, and mourn for my sin, and 
for ever ask forgiveness, and judge myself, and 
leave it with haste, and mortify it with diligence, 
and watch against it carefully. And this I can do 
but in the manner of a man ; I can but mourn for 
my sins, as I apprehend grief in other instances ; 
but I will rather choose to suffer all evils than to 
do one deliberate act of sin. I know my sins are 
greater than my sorrow, and too many for my 
memory, and too insinuating to be prevented by 
all my care: but I know also that God knows and 
pities my infirmities; and how far that will extend 
I know not, but that it will reach so far as to sat¬ 
isfy my needs is the matter of my hope. But this 
I am sure of, that I have in my great necessity 
prayed humbly and with great desire, and some¬ 
times I have been heard in kind, and sometimes 
have had a bigger mercy instead of it; and I have 
the hope of prayers , and the hope of my confession , 
and the hope of my endeavors , and the hope of many 
promises , and of God's essential goodness; and I 
am sure that God hath heard my prayers, and verfi 
tied his promises in temporal instances, for he ever 
gave me sufficient for my life ; and although he 


328 


EXERCISES AGAINST 


[Ch. v. 


promised such supplies, and grounded the confi¬ 
dences of them upou our first seeking the kingdom 
of heaven and its righteousness , yet he hath verified 
it to me, who have not sought- it as I ought; but 
therefore I hope he accepted my endeavor, or will 
give his great gifts and our great expectation even 
to the weakest endeavor, to the least, so it be a 
hearty piety. And sometimes I have had some 
cheerful visitations of God’s Spirit, and my cup 
hath been crowned with comfort, and the wine that 
made my heart glad danced in the chalice’, and I 
was glad that God would have me so ; and there¬ 
fore I hope this cloud may pass : for that which 
was then a real cause of comfort is so still, if I 
could discern it, and I shall discern it when the 
veil is taken from mine eyes. And, blessed be God, 
I can still remember that there are temptations to 
despair ; and they could not be temptations if they 
were not apt to persuade, and had seeming proba¬ 
bility on their side ; and they that despair think 
they do it with greatest reason ; for if they were 
not confident of the reason, but that it were such 
an argument as might be opposed or suspected, then 
they could not despair. Despair assents as firmly 
and strongly as faith itself; but because it is a 
temptation, and despair is a horrid sin, therefore 
it is certain those persons are unreasonably abused, 
and they have no reason to despair, for all their 
confidence: and therefore although I have strong 
reasons to condemn myself, yet I have more reason 


SliCT. 5.] 


DESPAIR IN DEATH. 


329 


to condemn my despair, which therefore is unrea¬ 
sonable because it is a sin, and a dishonor to God, 
and a ruin to my condition, and verifies itself, if I 
do not look to it. For as the hypochondriac per¬ 
son that thought himself dead made his dream true 
when he starved himself, because dead people eat 
not, so do despairing sinners lose God’s mercies by 
refusing to use and to believe them. And I hope 
it is a disease of judgment, not an intolerable con¬ 
dition, that I am falling into, because I have been 
told so concerning others, who therefore have been 
afflicted because they see not their pardon sealed 
after the manner of this world; and the affairs of 
the spirit are transacted by immaterial notices, by 
propositions and spiritual discourses, by promises 
which are to be verified hereafter; and here we 
must live in a cloud, in darkness, under a veil, in 
fears and uncertainties, and our very living by faith 
and hope is a life of mystery and secrecy, the only 
part of the manner of that life in which we shall 
live in the state of separation. And when a dis¬ 
temper of body or an infirmity of mind happens in 
the instances of such secret and reserved affairs, we 
may easily mistake the manner of our notices for 
the uncertainty of the thing: and therefore it is but 
reason I should stay till the state and manner of 
my abode be changed, before I despair. There it 
can be no sin nor error, here it may be both ; and 
if it be that , it is also this; and then a man may 
perish for being miserable, and be undone for being 


330 


EXERCISES AGAINST 


[Cm V. 


a fool. In conclusion my hope is in God, and I 
will trust him with the event, which I am sure will 
he just, and I hope full of mercy. However, now 
I will use all the spiritual arts of reason and relig¬ 
ion to make me more and more to love God, that 
if I miscarry, charity also shall fail , and something 
that loves God shall perish and be damned; which 
if it be impossible, then I may do well. 

These considerations may be useful to men of 
little hearts and of great piety; or if they be per¬ 
sons who have lived without infamy, or begun 
their repentance so late that it is very imperfect, 
and yet so early that it was before the arrest of 
death. But if the man be a vicious person, and 
hath persevered in a vicious life till his death-bed, 
these considerations are not proper. Let him in¬ 
quire, in the words of the first disciples after Pen¬ 
tecost, Men and brethren , ivhat shall we do to be 
saved? And if they can but entertain so much 
hope as to enable them to do so much of their duty 
as they can for the present, it is all that can be 
provided for them: an inquiry in their case can 
have no other purposes ‘of religion or prudence. 
And the minister must be infinitely careful that he 
do not go about to comfort vicious persons with the 
comforts belonging to God’s elect, lest he prostitute 
holy things and make them common, and his ser¬ 
mons deceitful, and vices be encouraged in others, 
and the man himself find that he was deceived, 
when he descends into his house of sorrow. 


Sect. 6.] 


DESPAIR IN DEATH. 


331 


But because very few men are tempted with too 
great fears of failing, but very many are tempted 
by confidence and presumption, the ministers of re¬ 
ligion had need be instructed with spiritual armor 
to resist this fiery dart of the Devil, when it oper¬ 
ates to evil purposes. 

Sect. VI. — Considerations against Presumption. 

I HAVE already enumerated many particulars 
to provoke a drowsy conscience to a scrutiny 
and to a suspicion of himself, that by seeing cause 
to suspect his condition, he might more freely ac¬ 
cuse himself and attend to the necessities and du¬ 
ties of repentance: but if either before or in his 
repentance he grow too big in his spirit, so as 
either he does some little violence to the modesties 
of humility, or abates his care and zeal of his re¬ 
pentance, the spiritual man must allay his forward¬ 
ness by representing to him, 1. That the growths 
in grace are long, difficult, uncertain, hindered, of 
many parts and great variety. 2. That an infant 
grace is soon dashed and discountenanced, often 
running into an inconvenience and the evils of an 
imprudent conduct, being zealous and forward, and 
therefore confident, but always with the least reason 
and the greatest danger, like children and young 
fellows, whose confidence hath no other reason but 
that they understand not their danger and their fol¬ 
lies. 3. That he that puts on his armor ought not 


332 


REMEDIES A GA INS T 


[Ch. V. 


to boast as he that puts it off; and the Apostle 
chides the Galatians for ending in the Jiesli , after 
they had begun in the Spirit. 4. That a man can¬ 
not think too meanly of himself, but very easily he 
may think too high. 5. That a wise man will 
always in a matter of great concernment think the 
worst, and a good man will condemn himself with 
hearty sentence. 6. That humility and modesty of 
judgment and of hope are very good instruments to 
procure a mercy and a fair reception at the day of 
our death: hut presumption or bold opinion serves 
no end of God or man, and is always imprudent, 
ever fatal, and of all things in the world is its own 
greatest enemy; for the more any man presumes, 
the greater reason he hath to fear. 7. That a 
man’s heart is" infinitely deceitful, unknown to 
itself, not certain in his own acts, praying one way, 
and desiring another, wandering and imperfect, 
loose and various, worshipping God, and entertain¬ 
ing sin, following what it hates, and running from 
what it flatters, loving to be tempted and betrayed; 
petulant like a wanton girl running from, that it 
might invite the fondness and enrage the appetite 
of, the foolish young man, or the evil temptation 
that follows it; cold and indifferent one while, and 
presently zealous and passionate, furious, and in¬ 
discreet ; not understood of itself or any one else, 
and deceitful beyond all the arts and numbers of 
observation. 8. That it is certain we have highly 
sinned against God, but we are not so certain that 


Sect. 6.] 


PRESUMPTION. 


333 


our repentance is real and effective, integral and 
sufficient. 9. That it is not revealed to us whether 
or no the time of our repentance be not passed; or 
if it be not, yet how far God will give us pardon, 
and upon what condition, or after what sufferings 
or duties, is still under a cloud. 10. That virtue 
and vice are oftentimes so near neighbors that we 
pass into each other’s borders without observation, 
and think we do j ustice when we are cruel, or call 
ourselves liberal when we are loose and foolish in 
expenses, and are amorous when we commend our 
own civilities and good nature. 11. That we allow 
to ourselves so many little irregularities that in¬ 
sensibly they swell to so great a heap that from 
thence we have reason to fear an evil; for an army 
of frogs and flies may destroy all the hopes of our 
harvest. 12. That, when we do that which is law¬ 
ful, and do all that we can in those bounds, we 
commonly and easily run out of our proportions. 
13. That it is not easy to distinguish the virtues of 
our nature from the virtues of our choice; and we 
may expect the reward of temperance when it is 
against our nature to be drunk; or we hope to 
have the coronet of virgins for our morose disposi¬ 
tion, or our abstinence from marriage upon secular 
ends. 14. That it may be we call every little sigh 
or the keeping a fish-day the duty of repentance, or 
have entertained false principles in the estimate 
and measures of virtues; and, contrary to that 
steward in the Gospel, we write down fourscore 


334 


REMEDIES AGAINST 


[Ch. V. 


when we should set down but fifty. 15. That it is 
better to trust the goodness and justice of God 
with our accounts, than to offer him large bills. 
16. That we are commanded by Christ to sit down 
in the lowest place, till the master of the house bids 
us sit up higher. 17. That when we have done cdl 
that we can, we are unprof table servants ; and yet 
no man does all that he can do; and therefore is 
more to be despised and undervalued. 18. That 
the self-accusing publican was justified rather than 
the thanksgiving and confident Pharisee. 19. That 
if Adam in Paradise, and David in his house, and 
Solomon in the temple, and Peter in Christ’s fam¬ 
ily, and Judas in the college of apostles, and Nico¬ 
las among the deacons, and the angels in heaven 
itself, did fall so foully and dishonestly, then it is 
prudent advice that we be not high-minded, but fear, 
and when we stand most confidently, take heed lest 
we fall: and yet there is nothing so likely to make 
us fall as pride and great opinions, which ruined 
the angels, which God resists, which all men de¬ 
spise, and which betray us into carelessness, and a 
wretchless, undiscerning, and unwary spirit. 

4. Now the main parts of ecclesiastical ministry 
are done, and that which remains is that the minis¬ 
ter pray over him, and remind him to do good 
actions as he is capable; to call upon God for 
pardon; to put his whole trust in him; to resign 
himself to God’s disposing; to be patient and even ; 
to renounce every ill word, or thought, or undecent 


Sect. 6.] 


PRESUMPTION. 


335 


action, which the yiolence of his sickness may 
cause in him; to beg of God to give him his Holy 
Spirit to guide him in his agony, and his holy an¬ 
gels to guard him in his passage. 

5. AVhatsoever is besides this concerns the 
standers-by: that they do all in their ministries 
diligently and temperately; that they join with 
much charity and devotion in the prayer of the 
minister; that they make no outcries or exclama¬ 
tions in the departure of the soul; and that they 
make no judgment concerning the dying person, 
by his dying quietly or violently, with comfort or 
without, with great fears or a cheerful confidence, 
with sense or without, like a lamb or like a lion, 
with convulsions or semblances of great pain, or 
like an expiring and a spent candle; for these hap¬ 
pen to all men, without rule, without any known 
reason, but according as God pleases to dispense 
the grace or the punishment, for reasons only 
known to himself. Let us lay our hands upon our 
mouth, and adore the mysteries of the divine wis¬ 
dom and providence, and pray to God to give the 
dying man rest and pardon, and to ourselves grace 
to live well, and the blessing of a holy and a happy 
death. 


336 


PRAYERS AT THE 


[Cii. V. 


Sect. VII. — Offices to be said by the Minister in 
kis Visitation of the Sick. 


I 


N the name of the Father, of the Son, and of 
the Holy Ghost. 

Our Father, which art in heaven, &c. 



Let the Priest say this Prayer secretly. 

ETERNAL Jesus, thou great lover of souls, 
who hast constituted a ministry in the Church 
to glorify thy name, and to serve in the assistance 
of those that come to thee, professing thy discipline 
and service, give grace to me the unworthiest of 
thy servants, that I in this my ministry may purely 
and zealously intend thy glory, and effectually may 
minister comfort and advantages to this sick person 
(whom God assoil from all his offences); and grant 
that nothing of thy grace may perish to him by the 
unworthiness of the minister; but let thy Spirit 
speak by me, and give me prudence and charity, 
wisdom and diligence, good observation and apt 
discourses, a certain judgment and merciful dispen¬ 
sation, that the soul of thy servant may pass from 
this state of imperfection to the perfections of the 
state of glory, through thy mercies, 0 eternal Je¬ 
sus. Amen . 


Sect. 7.] VISITATION OF THE SICK. 


337 


The Psalm. 


Psalm cxxx. 


o 


UT of the depths have I cried 
unto thee, 0 Lord. 


Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears he attentive to 


the voice of my supplications. 


If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, 0 Lord, 
who should stand ? 

But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou may- 
est he feared. 

L wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait; and in 
his word do I hope. 

My soul waiteth for the Lord, more than they 
that watch for the morning. 

Let Israel hope in the Lord; for with the Lord 
there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. 

And he shall redeem his servants from all their 
iniquities. 

Psalm xlix. 5. Wherefore should I fear in the 
days of evil, when the wickedness of my heels shall 
compass me about ? 

7. No man can by any means redeem his brother, 
nor give to God a ransom for him ; 

8. {For the redemption of their sold is precious ,* 
and it ceaseth forever ,) 

9. That he should still live forever, and not see 
corruption . 

10. But wise men die, likewise the fool and the 
brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to 
others. 


15 


v 


338 


PRAYERS AT THE 


[Ch. V. 


15. But God will redeem my soul from the power 
of the grave ; for he shall receive me. 

Psalm xvii. 15. As for me, I will behold thy face 
in righteousness: I shall be satisfied when I awake 
in thy likeness. 

Psalm xvi. 11. Thou shalt show me the path of 
life: in thy presence is the fulness of joy, at thy 
right hand there are pleasures for evermore. 

Glory be to the Father, &c. 

As it was in the beginning, &c. 


Let us pray. 

A LMIGHTY God, Father of mercies, the 
God of j^eace and comfort, of rest and par¬ 
don, we thy servants, though unworthy to pray to 
thee, yet, in duty to thee and charity to our brother, 
humbly beg mercy of thee for him to descend upon 
his body and his soul; one sinner, O Lord, for an¬ 
other, the miserable for the afflicted, the poor for 
him that is in need: but thou givest thy graces and 
thy favors by the measures of thy own mercies, 
and in proportion to our necessities. We humbly 
come to thee in the name of Jesus, for the merit of 
our Saviour, and the mercies of our God, praying 
thee to pardon the sins of this thy servant, and to 
put them all upon the accounts of the cross, and to 
bury them in the grave of Jesus, that they may 
never rise up in judgment against thy servant, nor 


Sect. 7.] VISIT A TION OF THE SICK. 


339 


bring him to shame and confusion of face in the 
day of final inquiry and sentence. Amen. 


II. 



IVE thy servant patience in his sorrows, 


VJT comfort in this his sickness, and restore him 
to health, if it seem good to thee, in order to thy 
great ends and his greatest interest. And however 
thou shalt determine concerning him in this affair, 
yet make his repentance perfect, and his passage 
safe, and his faith strong, and his hope modest and 
confident; that when thou shalt call his soul from 
the prison of the body, it may enter into the secu¬ 
rities and rest of the sons of God, in the bosom of 
blessedness, and the custodies of Jesus. Amen. 


Ill 


T HOU, 0 Lord, knowest all the necessities 
and all the infirmities of thy servant: for¬ 
tify his spirit with spiritual joys and perfect resig¬ 
nation, and take from him all degrees of inordinate 
or insecure affections to this world, and enlarge his 
heart with desires of being with thee, and of free¬ 
dom from sins, and fruition of God. 


IV. 


L ORD, let not any pain or passion discompose 
the order and decency of his thoughts and 


340 


PRAYERS AT THE 


[Cir. V. 


duty; and lay no more upon thy servant than thou 
wilt make him able to bear, and together with the 
temptation do thou provide a way to escape; even 
by the mercies of a longer and a more holy life, or 
by the mercies of a blessed death: even as it pleas- 
eth thee, O Lord, so let it be. 


y. 


ET the tenderness of his conscience and the 



B j Spirit of God call to mind his sins, that they 
may be confessed and repented of: because thou 
hast promised that if w T e confess our sins, we shall 
have mercy. Let thy mighty grace draw out from 
his soul every root of bitterness, lest the remains 
of the old man be accursed w r ith the reserves of 
thy wrath: but in the union of the holy Jesus, and 
in the charities of God and of the world, and the 
communion of all the saints, let his soul be pre¬ 
sented to thee blameless, and entirely pardoned, 
and throughly washed, through Jesus Christ our 
Lord. 


Here also may be inserted the Prayers set down after 
the holy Communion is administered. 


Sect. 7.] VISITATION OF THE SICK. 


341 


The Prayer of St. Eustratius the Martyr , to he used 
by the Sick or Dying Man , or by the Priests or 
Assistants in his behalf which he said when he 
was going to Martyrdom. 

I WILL praise thee, *0 Lord, that thou hast 
considered my low estate, and hast not shut me 
up in the hands of mine enemies, nor made my 
foes to rejoice over me: and now let thy right 
hand protect me, and let thy mercy come upon me ; 
for my soul is in trouble and anguish because of its 
departure from the body. O let not the assemblies 
of its wicked and cruel enemies meet it in the pass¬ 
ing forth, nor hinder me by reason of the sins of 
my passed life. O Lord, be favorable unto me, 
that my soul may not behold the hellish counte¬ 
nance of the spirits of darkness, but let thy bright 
and joyful angels entertain it. Give glory to thy 
holy name and to thy majesty: place me by thy 
merciful arm before the seat of judgment, and let 
not the hand of the prince of this world snatch me 
from thy presence, or bear me into hell. Mercy, 
sweet Jesu. Amen. 


342 


PRAYERS AT THE 


[Ch. V. 


A Prayer taken out of the Euchologion of the Greek 
Church , to he said hy or in behalf of People in 
their Danger or near their Death. 

Be/3op/3opco/xei'os rais afiapriais, &C. 


I. 


B EMIRED with sins and naked of good deeds, 
I that am the meat of worms cry vehemently 

t 

in spirit: cast not me, wretch, away from thy face; 
place me not on the left hand who with thy hands 
didst fashion me; but give rest unto my soul, for 
thy great mercies’ sake, O Lord. 


II. 


S UPPLICATE with tears unto Christ, who is 
to judge my poor soul, that he will deliver 
me from the fire that is unquenchable. I pray you 
all, my friends and acquaintance, make mention of 
me in your prayers, that in the day of judgment I 
may find mercy at that dreadful tribunal. 


III. 


Then may the Standers-by pray. 


W HEN in unspeakable glory thou dost 
come dreadfully to judge the wdiole world, 


Sect. 7.] VISITATION OF THE SICK. 343 

vouchsafe, 0 gracious Redeemer, that this thy faith¬ 
ful servant may in the clouds meet thee cheerfully. 
They who have been dead from the beginning, 
with terrible and fearful trembling stand at thy tri¬ 
bunal, waiting thy just sentence, O blessed Saviour 
Jesus. None shall there avoid thy formidable and 
most righteous judgment. All kings and princes 
with servants stand together, and hear the dread¬ 
ful voice of the Judge condemning the people 
which have sinned, into hell: from which sad sen¬ 
tence, O Christ, deliver thy servant. Amen. 

Then let the Sick Man be called upon, to rehearse 
the Articles of his Faith ; or, if he be so weak he 
cannot, let him (if he have not before done it) be 
called to say Amen when they are recited, or to 
give some testimony of his Faith and confident 
assent to them. 

After which it is proper (if the Person be in capa¬ 
city) that the Minister examine him, and invite 
him to Confession, and all the parts of Repent¬ 
ance, according to the foregoing rules; after 
which he may pray this Prayer of Absolution. 

O UR Lord Jesus Christ, who hath given com¬ 
mission to his Church, in his name to pro¬ 
nounce pardon to all that are truly penitent, He of 
his mercy pardon and forgive thee all thy sins, de¬ 
liver thee from all evils, past, present, and future, 


344 


PRAYERS AT THE 


[Ch. V. 


preserve thee in the faith and fear of his holy 
name to thy life’s end, and bring thee to his ever¬ 
lasting kingdom, to live with him for ever and 
ever. Amen. 

Then let the Sick Man renounce all heresies, and 
whatsoever is against the truth of God or the 
peace of the Church, and pray for pardon for all 
his ignorances and errors , known and unknown. 

After which let him (if all other circumstances he 
fitted') he disposed to receive the blessed sacrament , 
in which the Curate is to minister according to 
the form prescribed by the Church. 

When the rites are finished, let the Sick Man, in the 
days of his sickness, be employed with the former 
ofiices and exercises before described; and when 
the time draws near of his dissolution, the Minister 
may assist by the following Order of Recommenda¬ 
tion of the soul. 


I. 

O H0LY and most gracious Saviour Jesus, we 
humbly recommend the soul of thy servant 
into thy hands, thy most merciful hands; let thy 
blessed angels stand in ministry about thy servant 
and defend him from the violence and malice of all 
his ghostly enemies, and drive far from hence all 
the spirits of darkness. Amen. 


Sect. 7 .] VISITATION OF THE SICK. 345 

II. 

L ORD, receive the soul of this thy servant: 

enter not into judgment with thy servant: 
spare him whom thou hast redeemed with thy most 
precious blood: deliver him from all evil for whose 
sake thou didst suffer all evil and mischief; from 
the crafts and assaults of the Devil, from the fear 
of death, and from everlasting death, good Lord, 
deliver him. Amen. 


III. 

I MPUTE not unto him the follies of his youth, 
nor any of the errors and miscarriages of his 
life: but strengthen him in his agony, let not his 
faith waver, nor his hope fail, nor his charity be 
disordered: let none of his enemies imprint upon 
him any afflictive or evil phantasm; let him die in 
peace, and rest in hope, and rise in glory. Amen. 


IV. 


L ORD, we know and believe assuredly that 
whatsoever is under thy custody cannot be 
taken out of thy hands, nor by all the violences of 
hell robbed of thy protection: preserve the work 
of thy hands, rescue him from all evil; take into 
the participation of thy glories him to whom thou 
hast given the seal of adoption, the earnest of the 
inheritance of the saints. Amen. 


15* 


346 


PRAYERS AT THE 


[Ch. V. 


Y. 


L ET his portion be with Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob, with Job and David, with the proph¬ 
ets and Apostles, with martyrs and all thy holy 
saints, in the arms of Christ, in the bosom of feli¬ 
city, in the kingdom of God to eternal ages. Amen. 

These following Prayers are ft also to be added to 
the foregoing Offices , in case there be no Com¬ 
munion or intercourse , but Prayer. 


Let us -pray. 


ALMIGHTY and eternal God, there is no 



number of thy days or of thy mercies: thou 
hast sent us into this world to serve thee, and to 
live according to thy laws; but we by our sins 
have provoked thee to wrath, and we have planted 
thorns and sorrows round about our dwellings : and 
our life is but a span long, and yet very tedious, 
because of the calamities that inclose us in on 
every side; the days of our pilgrimage are few 
and evil; we have frail and sickly bodies, violent 
and distempered passions, long designs and but a 
short stay, weak understandings and strong ene¬ 
mies, abused fancies, perverse wills. O dear God, 
look upon us in mercy and pity: let not our weak¬ 
nesses make us to sin against thee, nor our fear 
cause us to betray our duty, nor our former follies 


Sect. 7.] 


VISITATION OF THE SICK. 


347 


provoke thy eternal anger, nor the calamities of 
this world vex ns into tediousness of spirit and im¬ 
patience : but let thy Holy Spirit lead us through 
this valley of misery with safety and peace, with 
holiness and religion,, with spiritual comforts and 
joy in the Holy Ghost; that when we have served 
thee in our generations, we may be gathered unto 
our fathers, having the testimony of a holy con¬ 
science, in the communion of the catholic Church, 
in the confidence of a certain faith, and the com¬ 
forts of a reasonable, religious, and holy hope, and 
perfect charity with thee our God and all the 
world, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor 
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor 
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any 
other creature, may be able to separate us from the 
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
Amen. 


II. 


HOLY and most gracious Saviour Jesus, in 



whose hands the souls of all faithful people 
are laid up till the day of recompense, have mercy 
upon the body and soul of this thy servant, and 
upon all thy elect people who love the Lord Jesus, 
and long for his coming. Lord, refresh the imper¬ 
fection of their condition with the aids of the 
Spirit of grace and comfort, and with the visitation 
and guard of angels, and supply to them all their 
necessities known only unto thee; let them dwell 


348 


PRAYERS AT THE 


[Cir. V. 


iii peace, and feel thy mercies pitying their infirm¬ 
ities and the follies of their flesh, and speedily sat¬ 
isfying the desires of their spirits; and when thou 
shalt bring us all forth in the day of judgment, O 
then show thyself to be our Saviour Jesus, our ad¬ 
vocate and our judge. Lord, then remember that 
thou hast for so many ages prayed for the pardon 
of those sins which thou art then to sentence. Let 
not the accusations of our consciences, nor the 
calumnies and aggravations of devils, nor the 
effects of thy wrath, press those souls which thou 
lovest, which thou didst redeem, which thou dost 
pray for; but enable us all by the supporting hand 
of thy mercy to stand upright in judgment. O 
Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us: O 
Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us, as our trust 
is in thee. O Lord, in thee have we trusted, let us 
never be confounded. Let us meet with joy, and 
forever dwell with thee, feeling thy pardon, sup¬ 
ported with thy graciousness, absolved by thy sen¬ 
tence. saved by thy mercy, that we may sing to the 
glory of thy name eternal hallelujahs. Amen. 
Amen. Amen. 

Then may be added , in the behalf of all that are 
present, these Ejaculations. 

O spare us a little, that we may recover our 
strength before we go hence and be no more seen. 
Amen. 


Sect. 7.] VISITATION OF THE SICK. 


349 


Cast us not away in the time of age; 0 forsake 
us not when strength faileth. Amen. 

Grant that we may never sleep in sin or death 
eternal, but that we may have our part of the first 
resurrection, and that the second death may not 
prevail over us. Amen. 

Grant that our souls may be bound up in the 
bundle of life; and in the day when thou bindest 
up thy jewels remember thy servants for good, 
and not for evil, that our souls may be numbered 
amongst the righteous. Amen. 

Grant unto all sick and dying Christians mercy 
and aids from heaven ; and receive the souls re¬ 
turning unto thee, whom thou hast redeemed with 
thy most precious blood. Amen. 

Grant unto thy servants to have faith in the 
Lord Jesus, a daily meditation of death, a con¬ 
tempt of the world, a longing desire after heaven, 
patience in our sorrows, comfort in our sicknesses, 
joy in God, a holy life, and a blessed death; that 
our souls may rest in hope, and my body may rise 
in glory, and both may be beatified in the com¬ 
munion of saints, in the kingdom of God, and the 
glories of the Lord Jesus. Amen. 

The Blessing. 

Now the God of peace, that brought again from 
the dead our Lord Jesus, that 
great Shepherd of the sheep, 


Heb. 13. 20, 21. 


350 


PRAYERS AT THE 


[Cir. V. 


through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make 
you perfect in every good work, to do his will, 
working in you that which is pleasing in his sight; 
to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 


The Doxology. 


To the blessed and only Potentate, the King of 


kings, and Lord of lords, who 
only hath immortality, dwelling 


1 Tim. C. 15,10. 


in the light which no man can approach unto, whom 
no man hath seen, nor can see, be honor and power 
everlasting. Amen. 


After the Sick Man is departed, the Minister , if he 
he present, or the Major-domo, or any other ft 
person, may use the following Prayers in behalf 
of themselves. 


I. 



LMIGIITY God, with whom do live the 


jTjL spirits of them that depart hence in the 
Lord, we adore thy majesty, and submit to thy 
providence, and revere thy justice, and magnify 
thy mercies, thy infinite mercies, that it hath 
pleased thee to deliver this our brother out of the 
miseries of this sinful world. Thy counsels are 
secret, and thy wisdom is infinite: with the same 
hand thou hast crowned him, and smitten us; thou 


Sect. 7.] VISITATION OF TIIE SICK. 


361 


hast taken him into regions of felicity, and placed 
him among the saints and angels, and left us to 
mourn for our sins and .thy displeasure, which thou 
hast signified to us by removing him from us to a 
better, a far better place. Lord, turn thy anger 
into mercy, thy chastisements into virtues, thy rod 
into comforts, and do thou give to all his nearest 
relatives comforts from heaven, and a restitution 
of blessings equal to those which thou hast taken 
from them. And we humbly beseech thee of thy 
gracious goodness shortly to satisfy the longing 
desires of those holy souls who pray, and wait, and 
long for thy second coming. Accomplish thou the 
number of thine elect, and fill up the mansions in 
heaven which are prepared for all them that love 
the coming of the Lord Jesus: that we, with this 
our brother and all others departed this life in the 
obedience and faith of the Lord Jesus, may have 
our perfect consummation and bliss in thy eternal 
glory, which never shall have ending. Grant this 
for Jesus Christ his sake, our Lord and only 
Saviour. Amen, 


II. 


MERCIFUL God, Father of our Lord 



Jesus, who is the first-fruits of the resurrec¬ 
tion, and by entering into glory hath opened the 
kingdom of heaven to all believers, we humbly 
beseech thee to raise us up from the death of sin 


352 


PRAYERS AT THE 


[Ch. V. 


to the life of righteousness, that being partakers of 
the death of Christ, and followers of his holy life, 
we may be partakers of his. Spirit and of his prom¬ 
ises ; that when we shall depart this life, we may 
rest in his arms, and lie in his bosom, as our hope 
is this our brother doth. O suffer us not for any 
temptation of the world, or any snares of the 
Devil, or any pains of death, to fall from thee. 
Lord, let thy Holy Spirit enable us with his grace 
to fight a good fight with perseverance, to finish our 
course with holiness, and to keep the faith with 
constancy unto the end; that at the day of judg¬ 
ment we may stand at the right hand of the throne 
of God, and hear the blessed sentence of, Come , ye 
blessed children of my Father , receive the kingdom 
prepared for you from the beginning of the world. 
O blessed Jesus, thou art our Judge, and thou art 
our Advocate; even because thou art good and 
gracious, never suffer us to fall into the intolerable 
pains of hell, never to lie down in sin, and never 
to have our portion in the everlasting burning. 
Mercy, sweet Jesu, mercy. Amen. 

A Prayer to be said in the case of a sudden sur¬ 
prise by Death , as by a mortal wound , or evil 
accidents in Childbirth , when the forms and 
solemnities of preparation cannot be used. 

O M0ST gracious Father, Lord of heaven and 
earth, Judge of the living and the dead, be- 


353 


Sect. 7.] VISITATION OF THE SICK. 

I 

hold thy servants running to thee for pity and 
mercy in behalf of ourselves and this thy servant 
whom thou hast smitten with thy hasty rod, and a 
swift angel; if it be thy will, preserve his life, that 
there may be place for his repentance and restitu¬ 
tion. O spare him a little, that he may recover 
his strength before he go hence and be no more 
seen. But if thou hast otherwise decreed, let the 
miracles of thy compassion and thy wonderful 
mercy supply to him the want of the usual meas¬ 
ures of time, and the periods of repentance, and 
the trimming of his lamp; and let the greatness of 
the calamity be accepted by thee as an instrument 
to procure pardon for those defects and degrees of 
unreadiness which may have caused this accident 
upon thy servant. Lord, stir up in him a great 
and effectual contrition; that the greatness of the 
sorrow and hatred against sin, and the zeal of his 
love to thee, may in a short time do the work of 
many days. And thou who regardest the heart 
and the measures of the mind more than the delay 
and the measures of time, let it be thy pleasure to 
rescue the soul of thy servant from all the evils he 
hath deserved, and all the evils that he fears: that 
in the glorifications of eternity, and the songs 
which to eternal ages thy saints and holy angels 
shall sing to the honor of thy mighty name and 
invaluable mercies, it may lie reckoned among thy 
glories that thou hast redeemed this soul from the 
dangers of an eternal death, and made him par- 


354 


OF THE CONTINGENCIES 


[Ch. V. 


taker of the gift of God, eternal life , through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen. 

If there he time, Prayers in the foregoing Of¬ 

fices may he added, according as they can he 
fitted to the present circumstances. 


Sect. VIII. — A Peroration concerning the Con¬ 
tingencies and Treatings of our departed Friends 
after Death, in order to their Burial, &c. 


W HEN we have received^the hast breath of 
our friend, and closed his eyes, and com¬ 
posed his body for the grave, then seasonable is the 

—Ta6£ v i^novyao- counsel of the son of Sirach : 
fi.ee’ oio-i fj.d\HTTa KrjSed? Weep bitterly and make great 

e(TTL vetcvs. 

iiom. ii. xxiii. 159 . moan, and use lamentation, as 
Eccius. 38. i< , 20,2 i. j (e wor (hy , and that a day or 

two, lest thou he evil spoken of, and then comfort thy- 
self for thy heaviness. But take no grief to heart ; 
for there is no turning again: thou shalt not do him 
good, hut hurt thyself. Solemn and appointed mourn¬ 
ings are good expressions of our deafness to the de¬ 
parted soul, and of his worth, and our value of him ; 

and it hath its praise in nature, 
fit.—dixit socrate, and in manners* and public 

de ergastulario lugente. CUStOmS t blit the praise of it 

is not in the Gospel; that is, it 
hath no direct and proper uses in religion. For 
if the dead did die in the Lord, then there is joy to 


Sect. 8.] AND TREATING OUR DEAD. 


355 


Nemo me lacrymis (lecoret, 
nec funera flctu 
Faxit. Cur? volitovivusper 
ora virum. 

Ennius ap. Cic. Tusc. i. 15. 

Ile'pcm? peVTOt navTas 
enl to fivrifj.a roujubv ira- 
paKaXeLTe (TVi'rjaO-qcrop.e- 
vov? epoi on ev Tip aar^aXel 
rjbrj ecro/xat, a>? p.r)8ev av 
en xaxov naOeiv, p.r\Te f/v 
ixera tov Oeiov •yeVwp.cu., 
/u.j)re 17 V p.r}8ev en a>. 

Cyrus ap. Xen. Cyrop. 
viii. 7. 27. 


him; and it is an ill expression of our affection and 
our charity to weep uncomfort¬ 
ably at a change that hath car¬ 
ried my friend to the state of a 
huge felicity. But if the man 
did perish in his folly and his 
sins, there is indeed cause to 
mourn, but no hopes of being 
comforted ; for he shall never 
return to light, or to hopes of 
restitution. Therefore beware 
lest thou also cpme into the same place of torment; 
and let thy grief sit down and rest upon thy own 
turf, and weep till a shower springs from thy eyes 
to heal the wounds of thy spirit: turn thy sorrow 
into caution, thy grief for him that is dead to thy 
care for thyself who art alive ; lest thou die and 
fall like one of the fools, whose life is worse than 
death, and their death is the consummation of all 
felicities. The Church in her funerals of the dead 
used to sing psalms,* and to give 
thanks for the redemption and 
delivery of the soul from the evils and dangers of 
mortality. And therefore we have no reason to be 
angry when God hears our prayers, who call upon 
him to hasten his coming, and to fill up his num¬ 
bers, and to do that which we pretend to give him 
thanks for. And St. Chrysostom asks, To what 
purpose is it that thou singest, Return unto thy rest , 
0 my soul, &c., if thou dost not believe thy friend 


* S. Chrysost. in Heb. 
Horn. iv. c. 5. 


356 


OF THE CONTINGENCIES 


[Cii. V. 


to be in rest ? and if thou dost, why dost thou weep 
impertinently and unreasonably ? Nothing but our 
own loss can justly be deplored: and him that is 
passionate for the loss of his money or his advan¬ 
tages, we esteem foolish and imperfect; and there¬ 
fore have no reason to love the immoderate sorrows 
of those who too earnestly mourn for their dead, 
when, in the last resolution of the inquiry, it is their 
own evil and present or feared inconveniences they 
deplore: the best that can be said of such a grief 
is, that those mourners love themselves too well. 

* Something is to be given to 

na TpoKXov xAaiWju.ei', o 

yap yepas ecrri OavovTuv- custom, something to fame, to 

Horn. 11. xxiii. 9. , . . ..... . 

nature, and to civilities, and 
to the honor of the deceased friends; for that man 
is esteemed to die miserable for whom no friend or 

relative sheds a tear, or pays a 

Mors optima est, perire dum . . . 

lacrymant sui. solemn sigh. I desire to die a 

Sen. Hippol. iii. 2. 881. 

dry death , but am not very de- 

MijSe ju.oi d/cAavuro? Oava- . . 7.7 

ros po\oi, aAAa </>iAourt sirous to have a dry funeral; 

KaAAeiTroi/xi Oavoiv a\- some flowers sprinkled upon my 

yea k at crrovaxas. 1 x «/ 

soion, ap. stob. Fiorii. grave would do well and come- 
ly; and a soft shower to turn 
those flowers into a springing memory or a fair re¬ 
hearsal, that I may not go forth of my doors as my 
servants carry the entrails of beasts. 

But that which is to be faulted in this particular 
is, when the grief is immoderate and unreasonable; 
and Paula Romana deserved to have felt the weight 
of St. Hierome’s severe reproof when, at the death 


Sect. 8.J AND TREATING OUR DEAD. 


357 


t *12? fie narrip oil 7rai5o? 

ofiuperai otrrea xaiiov 
N vp.<f>iov, ocrre Oaviov fiei- 
Aous axa^-que ro/crja?- 
"Os ’A\i\ev<; erapoLO 66c- 
pero ocrrea xaiiov, 
'Epirv£wv napa nvpxairiv, 
afiu'a <neva\iC,av. 

Horn. 22. xxiii. 222. 


of every of her children, she al¬ 
most wept herself into her grave. xxu * 

But it is worse yet when people, by an ambitious and 
a pompous sorrow, and by ceremonies invented for 
the * ostentation of their grief, . Ew ct«vimu. 
fill heaven and earth with excla- SEUE 

mations.t and grow troublesome * onuit i 1 , ' lber ’ rctcxit super ' 

° bum palho caput, etmambus 

because their friend is happy, or inter se usque ad articulorum 

1 r J 1 strepitum contritis, &c. 

themselves want his company. return, sat. c . 17 . 

It is -certainly a sad thing in 
nature to see a friend trembling 
with a palsy, or scorched with 
fevers, or dried up like a pot¬ 
sherd with immoderate heats, 
and rolling upon his uneasy 
bed without sleep, which cannot be invited with 
music or pleasant murmurs, or a decent stillness; 
nothing but the servants of cold 

, -Non siculaa dapes 

death, poppy and weariness, can Duicem eiaborabunt sapo- 

... rem, 

tempt the eyes to let their cur- Non avium citharreque 

tains down ; and then they sleep somnum reducent. 

only to taste of death, and make 

an essay of the shades below : and yet we weep not 

« 

here ; the period and opportunity for tears we choose 
when our friend is fallen asleep, when he hath laid 
his neck upon the lap of his 
mother, and let his head down 
to be raised up to heaven.! This 
grief is ill-placed*and undecent. 

But many times it is worse: and it hath been 


Hor. Carm. iii. 1.18. 


t Tremulumque caput de- 
scendere jussit 
In ccelum, etlongam manan- 
tia labra salivnm. 

Juv. Sat. vi. 822. 


358 


OF THE CONTINGENCIES 


[Ch. V. 


observed that those greater and stormy passions 
do so spend the whole stock of grief, that they 
presently admit a comfort and contrary affection ; 
while a sorrow that is even and temperate goes on 
to its period with expectation and the distances of 
a just time. The Ephesian woman that the soldier 

told of in Petronius was the 

Sat. c. 111. 

talk of all the town, and the 
rarest example of a dear affection to her husband. 
She descended with the corpse into the vault, and 
there being attended with her maiden, resolved to 
weep to death, or die with famine or a distempered 
sorrow : from which resolution nor his nor her 
friends, nor the reverence of the principal citizens, 
who used the entreaties of their charity and their 
power, could persuade her. But a soldier that 
watched seven dead bodies hanging upon trees just 
over against this monument, crept in, and awhile 
sttired upon the silent and comely disorders of the 
sorrow; and having let the wonder awhile breathe 
out at each other’s eyes, at last he fetched his sup¬ 
per and a bottle of wine, with purpose to eat and 
drink, and still to feed himself with that sad pretti¬ 
ness. Ilis pity and first draught of wine made him 
bold and curious to try if the maid would drink ; 
who, having many hours since felt her resolution 
faint as her wearied body, took his kindness, and 
the light returned into her eyes, and danced like 
boys in a festival; and fearing lest the pertinacious¬ 
ness of her mistress’ sorrows should cause her evil 


Sect. 8.] AND TREATING OUR DEAD. 


359 


to revert, or her shame to approach, assayed whether 
she would endure to hear an argument to persuade 
her to drink and live. The violent passion had 
laid all her spirits in wildness and dissolution, and 
the maid found them willing to be gathered into 
order at the arrest of any new object, being weary 
of the first, of which like leeches they had sucked 
their fill till they fell down and burst. The weep¬ 
ing woman took her cordial, and was not angry 
with her maid, and heard the soldier talk. And 
he was so pleased with the change, that he, who 
first loved the silence of the sorrow, was more in 
love with the music of her returning voice, espe¬ 
cially which himself had strung and put in tune : 
and the man began to talk amorously, and the 
woman’s weak head and heart was soon possessed 
with a little wine, and grew gay, and talked, and 
fell in love ; and that very night, in the morning 
of her passion, in the grave of her husband, in the 
pomps of mourning, and in her funeral garments, 
married her new and stranger guest. For so the 
wild foragers of Libya being spent with heat, and 
dissolved by the too fond kisses of the sun, do melt 
with their common fires, and die with faintness, and 
descend with motions slow and unable to the little 
brooks that descend from heaven in the wilderness; 
and when they drink, they return into the vigor of 
a new life, and contract strange marriages; and the 
lioness is courted by a panther, and she listens to 
his love, and conceives a monster that all men call 


oGO 


OF THE CONTINGENCIES 


[Ch. V. 


unnatural, and the daughter of an equivocal passion 
and of a sudden refreshment. And so also was it 
in the cave of Ephesus ; for by this time the soldier 
began to think it was fit he should return to his 
watch and observe the dead bodies he had in 
charge : but when he ascended from his mourning 
bridal-chamber, he found that one of the bodies 
was stolen by the friends of the dead, and that he 
was fallen into an evil condition, because by the 
laws of Ephesus his body was to be fixed in the 
place of it. The poor man returns to his woman, 
cries out bitterly, and in her presence resolves to 
die to prevent his death, and in secret to prevent 
his shame. But now the woman’s love was raging 
like her former sadness, and grew witty, and she 
comforted her soldier, and persuaded him to live, 
lest by losing him, who had brought her from death 
and a more grievous sorrow, she should return to 
her old solemnities of dying, and lose her honor for 
a dream, or the reputation of her constancy without 
the change and satisfaction of an enjoyed love. The 
man would fain have lived if it had been possible, 
and she found out this way for him ; that he should 
take the body of her first husband, whose funeral 
she had so strangely mourned, and put it upon the 
gallows in the place of the stolen thief. He did so, 
and escaped the present danger, to possess a love 
which might change as violently as her grief had 
done. But so I have seen a crowd of disordered 
people rush violently and in heaps till their utmost 


Sect. 8.] AND TREATING OUR DEAD. 


3G1 


border was restrained by a wall, or had spent the 
fury of their first fluctuation and watery progress ; 
and by and by it returned to the contrary with the 
same earnestness, only because it was violent and 
ungoverried. A raging passion is this crowd, which, 
when it is not under discipline and the conduct of 
reason, and the proportions of temperate humanity, 
runs passionately the way it happens, and by and 
by as greedily to another side, being swayed by its 
own weight, and driven any whither by chance; in 
all its pursuits having no rule, but to do all it can, 
and spend itself in haste, and expire with some 
shame and much undecency. 

When thou hast wept a while, compose the 
body to burial : which that it be done gravely, 
decently, and charitably, we have the example of 
all nations to engage us, and of all ages of the 
world to warrant: so that it is against common 
honestij and public fame and reputation not to do 
this office. 

It is good that the body be kept veiled and 
secret, and not exposed to curious eyes, or the dis¬ 
honors wrought by the changes of death discerned 
and stared upon by impertinent persons. When 
Cyrus was dying, he called his sons and friends to 
take their leave, to touch his hand, to see him the 
last time, and gave in charge that when he had put 
his veil over his face no man should uncover it. 
And Epiplianius his body was rescued from inquis¬ 
itive eyes by a miracle. Let it be interred after 
16 


3G2 


OF THE CONTINGENCIES 


[Cn. V. 


the manner of the country,* and the laws of the 

place, and the dignity of the 

* No/bioi? errecrdcu tjktii' ^ 

lyx^pm k<xAws. person. For so Jacob was bur- 

Fiorii. xiiii. <25. ied with great solemnity, and 
T vrfov 6’ ov tj.a\a ttoMop Joseph’s bones were carried into 

eyio iroveecrOaL apioya, 

’aaa’ in -leucea toIop. Canaan alter they had been em- 

iiom. ii. xxm. 245 . j ja ] me q an j kept four hundred 

years ; and devout men carried St. Stephen to his 
burial, making great lamentation over him. And 

JElian tells, that those who were 

Tovs reAeiog apt'TTevo’cv- 

Ta$ (j)OLViKi8i Ta<j)r)vaL. tllC lllOSt CXCGllCIlt J3GFSOI1S W61'6 
Far. Hist • vi. G. i • i • i l c 

buried m purple ; and men or 
an ordinary courage and fortune had their graves 
only trimmed with branches of olive and mourning 
dowers. But when Mark Antony gave the body 

of Brutus to his freedman to be 

Flut. M. Ant. c. 22. . ' 

buried honestly, he gave also his 
own mantle to be thrown into his funeral pile ; and 
the magnificence of the old funeral we may see 
largely described by Virgil in the obsequies of 
Misenus, and by Homer in the funeral of Patro- 
clus. It was noted for piety in the men of Jabes'h- 
Gilead, that they showed kindness to their lord 
Saul, and buried him ; and they did it honorably. 
And our blessed Saviour, who was temperate in 
his expense, and grave in all the parts of his life 
and death, as age and sobriety itself, yet was pleased 
to admit the cost of Mary’s ointment upon his head 
and feet, because she did it against his burial; and 
though she little thought it had been so nigh, yet 


Skct. S.] 


AND TREATING OUR DEAD. 


363 


because lie accepted it for that end, he knew he 
had made her apology sufficient; by which he re¬ 
marked it to be a great act of piety, and honorable, 
to inter our friends and relatives Quidnarn sibl saxacavata> 
according to the proportions of lchra volunt monu - 

tlieil* condition, and SO to give a Nisi quod res creditor illis 

testimony of our hope of their Prud. cathe.m. x. 53 . 

resurrection. So far is piety ; beyond it may be 
the ostentation and bragging of a grief, or a design 
to serve worse ends. Such was that of Ilerod, when 
lie made too studied and elaborate a funeral for 
Aristobulus, whom he had murdered; and of Re¬ 
gains for his boy, at whose pile 
he killed dogs, nightingales, par¬ 
rots, and little horses. And such also w r as the ex¬ 
pense of some of the Romans, 

. -Cupit omnia ferrc 

who, hating their left "wealth, Prodigus.ettotosMeliorsuc- 

. cendcre census, 

gave order by their testament Dcsertas cxosus opes. 

, . . „ . Stat. Sylv. ii. 1. 102. 

to have huge portions ot it 


Plin. Epist. iv. 2. et 7. 


thrown into their fires, bathing their locks, which 
were presently to pass through the fire, with Ara¬ 
bian and Egyptian liquors and balsam of Judaea. 
In this as in everything else, as our piety must not 
pass into superstition or vain expense, so neither 
must the excess be turned into parsimony, and 
chastised by negligence and impiety to the mem¬ 
ory of their dead. 

But nothing of this concerns the dead in real 
and effective purposes ; nor is it with care to be 
provided for by themselves, but it is the duty of 


3G4 


OF TIJE CONTINGENCIES 


[Ch. V. 


the living* 


For to them it is all one whether they 
Totus hie locus est con- be carried forth upon a chariot 

tenmendus in nobis, non W00( l en bier, whether they 

Cic. Hisc. 1. 45. rot j n ^j ie a j r or j n the earth, 

dis curaresepuitos? whetliei they be devouied by 

virg. yEn. iv. si. gshes or by worms, by birds or 

by sepulchral dogs, by water or by fire, or by delay. 
When Criton asked Socrates how he would be buried, 
he told him, I think I shall escape from you, and that 
you cannot catch me ; but so much of me as you can 
apprehend, use it as you see cause for, and bury it; 

but, however, do it according to 
the laws. There is nothing in 
this but opinion and the decency 
of fame to be served. Where it 
is esteemed an honor and the manner of blessed 
people to descend into the graves of their fathers, 

there also it is reckoned as a 

Fugientibus Trojanis mina- 
tus est Hector, 

Avtov oi Oavarov /xrjnVo- 
fjLou, ovSe vv rovye 
Tviotol re yvwTai re irvpb\ j 
\e\<x\ix)cn Oavovra, 

’AAAa Kvve s epvovcn irpb 
aerreos rj/uerc'poio. 

Horn. 11. xv. 349. 


v Qnj}<; av croi $t'Aot/ rj, 
(cal /jidAiorTa ijyfi vop.ip.ov 
v.iva. 1 - 

Plat. Phced. c. G4, al. 149. 


curse to be buried in a strange 

land, or that the birds of the 

air devour them. Some nations 

used to eat the bodies of their 
* 

friends, and esteemed that the 
most honored sepulture ; but 
they were barbarous. The Magi never buried 
any but such as were torn of beasts. The Per¬ 
sians besmeared their dead with wax, and the 
Egyptians with gums, and with great art did con- 
dite the bodies, and laid them in charnel-houses. 
But Cyrus the elder would none of all this, but 


Skot £.] 


AND TREATING OUR DEAD. 


365 


Xen. Cyrop. viii. 7. 23. 

Sit tibi terra levis, mollique 
tegaris arena, 

Ut tua non possint eruere 
ossa canes. 

Mart. Epigr. ix. 30.11. 


gave command that his body should he interred, 
not laid in a coflin of gold or silver, but just into 
the earth, from whence all liv- 

• , .... , Ti yap tovtov uaxapiio- 

mg creatures receive birth and Tepo „, To0 yij ,, 

nourishment, and whither they ™ VT , aT<i KaK * ndl,Ta 

J 5e t’ aya6a (f>vec re Kai 

must return. Among Christians rp^e i ; 
the honor which is valued in the 
behalf of the dead is, that they 
be buried in holy ground, that 
is, in appointed cemeteries, in 
places of religion, there where the field of God is 
sown with the seeds of the resur- 

# * Nam quod requiescere cor¬ 

rection,* that their bodies also p |is 

. . Vacuum sine mente vide- 

may be among the Christians, mus, 

. . ii- Spatium breve restat, ut alti 

with whom their hope and their Repctat collegia sensus. 

. . t i 11 i o Ilinc maxima cura sepulcris 

portion is, and shall be for ever, impenditur. 

y.. . . i i . j Prud. (s(xthc)ii. x. 33 — 3G, 4o. 

Quicquid jeceris , omnia hcec 
eodem ventura sunt. That we are sure of; our 
bodies shall all be restored to our souls hereafter, 
and in the interval they shall all be turned into 
dust, by what way soever you or your chance shall 
dress them. Licinius the freed- 

Marmoreo Licinus tumulo 

man slept in a marble tomb; jacet ; at Cato parvo, 
but Cato, in a little one; Pon> 
pey, in none : and yet they had 
the best fate among the Romans, 
and a memory of the biggest honor. And it may 
happen that to want a monument may best preserve 
their memories, while the succeeding ages shall by 
their instances remember the changes of the world, 


Pompeius nullo: credimus 
esse Deos? 

Varro Atacinus. 
[Meyer, Anthol. Vet. Lat. 
Epigr. 77.] 


3GG 


OF THE CONTINGENCIES 


[Ch. V. 


* Fnnmorbem replet,mortem 
sors oceulit; at tu 
Desine scrutari quod tegat 
ossa solum. 

Si mihi dent animo non im- 
par fata sepulcrum, 
Angusta est tumulo terra 
Britanna meo. 

Buclian. Ejrigr. ii. 1. 


Bibl. Hist. ii. 7. 


and the dishonors of death, and the equality of the 

dead. And * James the Fourth, 
king of the Scots, obtained an 
epitaph for wanting of a tomb ; 
and King Stephen is remem¬ 
bered with a sad story, because 
four hundred years after his 
death his bones w r ere thrown into a river, that 
evil men might sell the leaden coffin. It is all one 
in the final event of things. Ninus the Assyrian 

had a monument erected whose 
height was nine furlongs, and the 
breadth ten, saith Diodorus; but John the llaptist 
had more honor when he was humbly laid in the 
earth between the bodies of Abdias and Eliseus. 
And St. Ignatius, who w r as buried in the bodies of 
lions, and St. Polycarp, who was burned to ashes, 

shall have their bones and their 

Cernit ibi moestos ct mortis 

honore carentes flesh again, with greater com- 

Leucaspim, et Lvciac ducto- . 

rem classis Orontem. fort than tllOSe Violent perSOllS 
Virg. jEn. vi. 333. . , , . , . 

who slept among kings, having 
usurped their thrones when they were alive, and 
their sepulchres when they were dead. 

Concerning doing honor to the dead, the consid¬ 
eration is not long. Anciently the friends of the 

dead used to make their funeral 

Lustravitque viros, dixitque 

novissima verba. orations, and what they spake 

Virg. Ain. vi. 231. J 1 

of greater commendation was 
pardoned upon the accounts of friendship; but 
when Christianity seized upon the possession of 





Sect. 8.J 


AND TREATING OUR DEAD. 


3G7 


the world, this charge was devolved upon priests 
and bishops, and they first kept the custom of the 
world, and adorned it with the piety of truth and 
of religion; but they also ordered that it should 
not be cheap ; for they made funeral sermons only 
at the death of princes, or of such holy persons who 
shall judge the angels. The custom descended, and 
in the channels mingled with the veins of earth 
through which it passed; and nowadays, men that 
die are commended at a price, and the measure of 
their legacy is the degree of their virtue. But 
these things ought not so to he: the reward of the 
greatest virtue ought not to be prostituted to the 
doles of common persons, but preserved like laurels 
and coronets, to remark and encourage the noblest 
things. Persons of an ordinary life should neither 
be praised publicly, nor reproached in private; for 
it is an office and charge of humanity to speak no 
evil of the dead, which I suppose is meant concern¬ 
ing things not public and evident; but then neither 
should our charity to them teach us to tell a lie, or 
to make a great flame from a heap of rushes and 
mushrooms, and make orations crammed with the 
narrative of little observances, and acts of civil and 
necessary and external religion. 

But that which is most considerable is, that 


we should do something for the 



dead, something that is real and ’AtSao 


of proper advantage. That 
we perform their will, the laws 


Ilaura yap TjSr) rot rcAt'oj 
Ta ndpoL0ev iinicnrjv. 


Horn. 11. xxiii. 19. 


OF THE CONTINGENCIES 


[Cn. V. 


3 08 


oblige us, and will see to it: but that we do all 
those parts of personal duty which our dead left 
unperformed, and to which the laws do not oblige 
us, is an act of great charity and perfect kindness; 
and it may redound to the advantage of our friends 
also, that their debts be paid even beyond the in¬ 
ventory of their movables. 

Besides this, let us right their causes and assert 
their honor. When Marcus Regulus had injured 


the memory of Herennius Sene- 
cio, Metius Cams asked him, 


Plin. Epist. i. 5. 3. 


what he had to do with his dead; and became his 
advocate after death, of whose cause he was patron 
when he was alive. And David added this also, 
that he did kindness to Mepliibosheth for Jonathan’s 
sake ; and Solomon pleaded his father’s cause by 
the sword against Joab and Shiinei. And certainly 

it is the noblest thing in the 

Xpij 8k koX rkov Trpo-yo- „ , . , 

va >v tt (nr/crac9ai Til'a npc- YY Olid tO (lO ail act ol kllldlieSS 

yoiav, Kai p'r) napape^- ^ () pj m W } 10m We shall neVd’ 



see, but yet hath deserved it 
of us, and to whom we would 
do it if he were present; and 
unless Yve do so, our charity is 
mercenary, and our friendships 


Isoc. Plataic. c. C5. 


-Misenum in littore Teu- 

cri 


Flebant, et cineri ingrato su- 
prema ferebant. 


Virg. Ain. vi. 212. 


are direct merchandise, and our gifts are brokage : 
but what we do to the dead, or to the living for 
their sakes, is gratitude , and virtue for virtue’s sake, 
and the noblest portion of humanity. 

And yet I remember that the most excellent 


Sect. 8.] AND TREATING OUR DEAD. 309 

prince Cyrus, in his last exhortation to his sons 
upon his death-bed, charms them 

. . Xen. Cyrop. viii. 7.22. 

into peace and union of hearts 
and designs, by telling them that his soul would 
be still alive, and therefore tit to be revered and 
accounted as awful and venerable as when he was 
alive. And what we do to our dead friends is not 
done to persons undiscerning as a fallen tree, but 
to such who better attend to their relatives, and to 
greater purposes, though in other manner, than they 
did here below. And therefore those wise persons 
who in their funeral orations made their doubt, with 

an et tls aiadrjcrii rot? Tere\evTT]Kuai nep\ tu>v ivddde 

yiyvopcvwv, “ if the dead have any perception of what 
is done below,” which are the words of Isocrates, in 
the funeral encomium of Eva- 

c. 2. 

goras, did it upon the uncertain 
opinion of the soul’s immortality; but made no ques¬ 
tion, if they were living, they did also understand 
what could concern them. The same words Nazian, 
zen uses at the exequies of his 

Orat. viii. 23; iv. 3. 

sister Gorgonia, and in the 
former invective against Julian : but this was upon 
another reason ; even because it was uncertain 
what the state of separation was, and whether oui 
dead perceive anything of us till we shall meet in 
the day of judgment. If it was uncertain then, it 
is certain since that time we have had no new reve¬ 
lation concerning it; but it is ten to one but when 
we die we shall find the state of affairs wholly dif- 
16 * 


x 


370 


OF TIIE CONTINGENCIES 


[Ch. V. 


fering from all our opinions here, and that no man 
or sect hath guessed anything at all of it as it is. 
Here I intend not to dispute, but to persuade; and 
therefore in the general , if it be probable that they 
know or feel the benefits done to them, though but 
by a reflex revelation from God, or some under- 
communication from an angel, or the stock of ac¬ 
quired notices here below, it may the rather endear 
us to our charities or duties to them respectively ; 
since our virtues use not to live upon abstractions, 

and metaphysical perfections, or 
inducements, but then thrive 
when they have material argu¬ 
ments, such which are not too 
far from sense. However it be, 
it is certain they are not dead ; 
and though we no more see the 
souls of our dear friends than we did when they 
were alive, yet we have reason to believe them to 
know more things and better ; and if our sleep be 
an image of death, we may also observe concerning 
it, that it is a state of life so separate from com¬ 
munication with the body, that it is one of the ways 

of oracle and prophecy by which 
the soul best declares her im¬ 
mortality, and the nobleness of 
her actions and powers if she 

era i\evOepovTcu. 

Cyrus np. Xcn. Cyrop. could get free from the body, 
as in the state of separation, or 
a clear dominion over it, as in the resurrection. To 


'HA0e S’ €7rl narpo- 

/eAijo? 5eiAoto, 

- k at pus Trpbs pvOov 

eetrrev 

EiiSets, avrdp epelo AeAa- 
c rpevos eirXev, ’A\tA\ev ; 
Ou pev pev £ioovtos anr,- 
Sei?, aAAa OavovTOs. 

Horn. 11. xxiii. 65. 


'H 5e tou avOpanrov 
\pv\V tots S-q ttov OeioTarr / 
xara^atVerat, <cai Tore rt 
Tali' peWovrtov npoopa• 
tots yap, to? eotice, pa At- 



Sect. 8.] AND TREATING OUR DEAD. 


371 


which also this consideration may be added, that 
men a long time live the life of sense before they 
use their reason; until they have , , . , , 

J —T19 core /cat eiv At- 

furnished their head with ex- 8ao So^oun-v 
periments and notices of many ; EVfSoWfVl ^ TC , 
things, they cannot at all dis- nom.jtxxm.ioa. 
course of anything; but when they come to use 
their reason, all their knowledge is nothing but 
remembrance ; and we know by proportions, by 
similitudes and dissimilitudes, by relations and op¬ 
positions, by causes and effects, by comparing things 
with things ; all which are nothing but. operations 
of understanding upon the stock of former notices, 
of something we knew before, nothing but remem¬ 
brances : all the heads of topics, which are the stock 
of all arguments and sciences in the world, are a 
certain demonstration of this ; and he is the wisest 
man that remembers most, and joins those remem¬ 
brances together to the best purposes of discourse. 
From whence it may not be improbably gathered, 
that in the state of separation, if there be any act 
of understanding, that is, if the understanding be 
alive, it must be relative to the notices it liad in 
this world, and therefore the acts of it must be 
discourses upon all the parts and persons of their 
conversation and relation, excepting only such new 
revelations which may be communicated to it; con¬ 
cerning which we know nothing. But if by seeing 
Socrates I think upon Plato, and by seeing a pic¬ 
ture I remember a man, and by beholding two 


372 


OF THE CONTINGENCIES 


[Cir. V. 


friends I remember my own and my friend’s need 
(and he is wisest that draws most lines from the 
same centre, and most discourses from the same 
notices), it cannot but be very probable to believe, 
since the separate souls understand better, if they 
understand at all, that from the notices they car¬ 
ried from hence, and what they find there equal or 
unequal to those notices, they can better discover 
the things of their friends than we can liere by our 
conjectures and craftiest imaginations: and yet 
many men here can guess shrewdly at the thoughts 
and designs of such men with whom they dis¬ 
course, or of whom they have heard, or whose 
characters they prudently have perceived. I have 
no other end in this discourse, but that we may be 
engaged to do our duty to our dead; lest perad- 
venture they should perceive our neglect, and be 
witnesses of our transient affections and forgetful¬ 
ness. Dead persons have religion passed upon 
them, and a solemn reverence: and if we think a 
ghost beholds us, it may be we may have upon us 
the impressions likely to be made by love , and fear, 
and religion. However, we are sure that God sees 
us, and the world sees us : and if it be matter of 
duty towards our dead, God will exact it; if it be 
matter of kindness, the ivorld will; and as religion 
is the bond of that, so fame and reputation is the 
endearment of this. 

It remains, that we who are alive should so live, 
and by the actions of religion attend the coming 


Skct. 8.] AND TREATING OUR DEAD. 


373 


of the day of the Lord, that we neither be sur¬ 
prised, nor leave our duties imperfect, nor our sins 
uncancelled, nor our persons unreconciled, nor God 
unappeased; but that, when we descend to our 
graves, we may rest in the bosom of the Lord, till 
the mansions be prepared where we shall sing and 
feast eternally. Amen. 


Te Deum Laudamus. 











































































